Harry Krause wrote:
A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny
1997 Russia Visit Reportedly Backed by Business Interests

By R. Jeffrey Smith and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 6, 2005; Page A01

A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
(R-Tex.) was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of
the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand
knowledge of the trip arrangements.

DeLay reported that the trip was sponsored by a Washington-based
nonprofit organization. But interviews with those involved in planning
DeLay's trip say the expenses were covered by a mysterious company
registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000
lobbying campaign.

It is unclear precisely how the money was transferred from the
Bahamian-registered company to the nonprofit.

The expense-paid trip by DeLay and four of his staff members cost
$57,238, according to records filed by his office. During his six days
in Moscow, he played golf, met with Russian church leaders and talked to
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, a friend of Russian oil and gas
executives associated with the lobbying effort.

DeLay also dined with the Russian executives and two Washington-based
registered lobbyists for the Bahamian-registered company, sources say.
One of those lobbyists was Jack Abramoff, who is now at the center of a
federal influence-peddling and corruption probe related to his
representation of Indian tribes.

House members bear some responsibility to ensure that the sponsors for
their travel are not masquerading for registered lobbyists or foreign
government interests, legal experts say. House ethics rules bar the
acceptance of travel reimbursement from registered lobbyists and foreign
agents.
- - - -


DeLay has got to go.

The tab for DeLay's Russia trip was paid by an obscure firm called
Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, which was deeply involved with Russian
oil executives. It's a purposely tangled web
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer)
, but here's how to get from Point A to Point B: Registered in the
Bahamas, Chelsea was paid by a Russian oil and gas company known as
Naftasib to lobby Congress for on its behalf. Chelsea then turned around
and hired two Washington, D.C. lobbying firms, Preston Gates Ellis and
Rouvelas Meeds, to do the actual lobbying. One of the Rouvelas Meeds
lobbyists -- Jack Abramoff -- then set up a trip for Tom DeLay to meet
the Naftasib executives in Moscow, using a D.C. nonprofit, the National
Center for Public Policy Research. NCPPR paid for the trip ... then,
according to sources, was paid back by the Russian-paid Chelsea.

TELL CORPORATE AMERICA TO DROP THE HAMMER: Believe it or not: you might
be subsidizing Tom DeLay's legal defense when you buy an airline ticket,
make a phone call or have a happy hour cocktail. A network of large
corporate backers -- including American Airlines, Verizon and Bacardi --
have poured thousands into Tom DeLay's legal defense trust. It's time
for this to stop. Visit dropthehammer.org
(http://www.dropthehammer.org/) and send a message to these
corporations to stop enabling Tom DeLay's unethical behavior. Let these
corporations know (http://www.dropthehammer.org/) that unless they stop
supporting Tom DeLay, you'll stop supporting them.