AP via Tribune:
Former DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty
By Associated Press
Published March 31, 2006, 10:18 AM CST
WASHINGTON -- A former top aide to Rep. Tom DeLay pleads guilty Friday to
one count of conspiracy and agreed to cooperate in a widening federal investigation
into lobby fraud on Capitol Hill.
The aide, Tony Rudy, was accused by prosecutors of conspiring with lobbyist Jack
Abramoff to block legislation in exchange for money and later sought to illegally
influence other public official.
Rudy plead guilty to fraud charges and violating the one-year lobbying ban faced
by former government workers at a court hearing Friday.
A top DeLay aide while the Texas lawmaker served as House Majority Leader, Rudy
took payments from Abramoff in 2000, then helped stop an Internet gambling bill
opposed by Abramoff's clients, papers filed in U.S. District Court in Washington
said.
Later, while working as a lobbyist, Rudy also was extensively involved in arranging
a golf trip to Scotland for Rep. Bob Ney and congressional staffers, the court
papers said.
Rudy, who resigned as DeLay's deputy chief of staff in 2001 to become a lobbyist,
would be the first person to plead guilty to charges in the case since Abramoff
pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January.
Rudy was referred to in earlier court papers released in connection with Abramoff's
plea. The documents referred to Rudy as Staffer A, and said that Abramoff, on
behalf of clients who wanted to stop Internet gambling and postal rate legislation,
paid $50,000 in 10 equal monthly payments beginning in June 2000 to Rudy's wife
while Rudy was a top aide to DeLay.
The Abramoff court papers allege no wrongdoing by DeLay, and his attorney, Richard
Cullen, said the former House Majority Leader "expects his current staffers
and expected his former staffers to adhere to the highest ethical standards."
Rudy first joined Abramoff's lobbying team at the Greenberg Traurig law firm.
Soon after, he signed on with another former DeLay staffer, Ed Buckham, at the
Alexander Strategy Group.