The Troubles of House Majority Leader TOM DELAY

New York – As a significant number of Republicans have begun to question the political survival of the House Majority Leader, TIME reports on the close relationship between Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and lobbyist Ed Buckham.

ONLINE: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1037627,00.html

Buckham, DeLay’s former chief of staff, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington, report TIME’s national political correspondent Karen Tumulty,

Buckham helped DeLay build a political machine known as DeLay Inc., for the seamless coordination between his office and the lobbying corridor of K Street. Now that machinery threatens to derail DeLay, according to Tumulty.

Slapped three times last year by the House ethics committee for violations of House rules, DeLay finds himself potentially facing more serious trouble on multiple fronts. Lobbyists like Buckham have traded on their access to him.

“What even fewer people outside that office knew was that the two shared a bond that transcended power and politics: Buckham, a licensed nondenominational minister, was also DeLay’s pastor,” reports Tumulty. “For a while, in DeLay’s early days as whip, they organized daily voluntary prayer sessions for the staff—until it began making some aides uncomfortable. After that, according to two sources who worked in the office at the time, the two of them frequently prayed together privately, joining hands in DeLay’s office.”

Sources tell TIME that with DeLay's political survival in question, potential successors are already quietly positioning themselves. Among the Representatives most frequently mentioned are majority whip Roy Blount of Missouri, National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Reynolds of New York, House Education Committee chairman John Boehner and leadership chairman Rob Portman of Ohio.

TIME reports that Buckham’s lobbying business shares the same Georgetown waterfront office suite as the registered foreign agent that gave DeLay and others paid trips to South Korea in violation of House rules. Edward Stewart, who not only manages international business for Buckham’s Alexander Strategy Group but is also Washington representative for the agent, The Korea–U.S. Exchange Council, declined to comment on the controversy. Buckham, 46, did not return telephone calls and e-mails seeking an interview.

“The political operation that DeLay and Buckham built pushed hard against the boundaries of campaign-finance laws—and on occasion overstepped them,” writes Tumulty. The National Republican Congressional Committee agreed last year to pay a $280,000 fine for improperly transferring $500,000 in 1999 to an outside organization to run radio ads against Democrats. Buckham had convinced the Republican Party to make the donation to the group. Although he maintained that he was merely a fund raiser for the organization, his wife was on its payroll (earning $59,000 in 1997), its truck was registered at his residence, and his lobbying business operated at the time from a town house the group owned.

Buckham, originally from Nashville, Tennessee, became more deeply involved than ever with DeLay when he left DeLay’s whip’s office to build his own operation. Buckham put DeLay’s wife Christine on the payroll of his thriving Alexander Strategy Group from 1998 to 2002, according to DeLay’s financial-disclosure forms. Buckham also hired Tony Rudy—who had been DeLay’s press secretary, policy director, deputy chief of staff and general counsel—as well as Karl Gallant, who had served as executive director of DeLay’s political-action committee.

Buckham’s client list, according to his firm’s website, includes the American Bankers Association, Bell South, Eli Lilly, Fannie Mae, R.J. Reynolds and Time Warner (parent of this magazine).

Buckham also appears to have played a key role in the spreading scandal around lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former producer of low-budget movies whose most marketable asset was access to DeLay, writes Tumulty. “How did Jack Abramoff get into Tom DeLay’s office?” asks a source close to the majority leader. “Ed Buckham.”

“So, will DeLay survive?,” Tumulty asks. “With Tom, it’s going to have to be more than just allegations. Tom has done so much fund raising,” says Indiana Representative Mark Souder. But he acknowledges, “There’s a general feeling from all of us that Tom could be more careful. The accumulation of Mariana Islands, Korea, the stuff in Texas has some people wringing their hands more than others.”

“As members head home, they’ll review the various media reports,” says Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth, who has been burned by revelations that he used a skybox supplied by Abramoff for fund raising. “I’m sure that it’s in the best interest of the majority leader and the majority to have an accounting of what transpired.”

Contact: Diana_Pearson@timeinc.com, 212-522-0833