Prosecutor Subpoenas Phone Data of DeLay

WASHINGTON (By Philip Shenon, NYTimes) October 14, 2005 —  A state prosecutor subpoenaed the phone records of Representative Tom DeLay and his daughter on Thursday as part of an investigation that has already produced two conspiracy indictments against Mr. DeLay.

The subpoenas, issued by the district attorney in Travis County, Tex., which includes Austin, the state capital, sought records for Mr. DeLay's home telephone number and for his campaign office, as well as for two phone numbers used by his daughter, a key political aide. The subpoenas sought information on long-distance calls made from or charged to the numbers.

The district attorney, Ronnie Earle, had no immediate comment on the subpoenas or their timing. The move appeared to be an effort to gather additional information that might tie Mr. DeLay, whose home is in Sugar Land, near Houston, to what Mr. Earle has described as a conspiracy in 2002 to undermine a state ban on the use of corporate money in local political campaigns.

Mr. DeLay has been indicted twice in the past month in Travis County - first on charges of conspiring to violate the election code, then on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He has denied wrongdoing and has suggested that Mr. Earle, a veteran prosecutor and a Democrat, is conducting a political witch hunt. Under Republican rules in the House, Mr. DeLay was required to step down as majority leader as a result of the criminal charges.

"This is a baseless investigation that is over three years old, and only now Ronnie Earle is issuing subpoenas?" said Kevin Madden, a spokesman in Washington for Mr. DeLay. "It's a ridiculous stunt to try and cover up the fact that Ronnie Earle's partisan investigation has turned into an embarrassment for him."

In the indictments, Mr. Earle offered no details tying Mr. DeLay to what prosecutors have described as the central act in the conspiracy: the funneling of $190,000 in corporate money to individual Republican candidates in Texas through the Republican National Committee in Washington and a state political action committee set up by Mr. DeLay.

Mr. DeLay has said he had nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, and did not know about the transfers when they occurred. His lawyers have tried to subpoena Mr. Earle to answer their accusations of improper conduct by the district attorney's office in the investigation of Mr. DeLay.

Prosecutors have not suggested that Mr. DeLay's daughter, Danielle DeLay Ferro, is under suspicion. Ms. Ferro, a Texas political consultant and one of her father's closest campaign aides, was previously subpoenaed to turn over records to a grand jury in Texas. Mr. DeLay is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case in Austin next Friday.