Ohio Congressman Forfeits DeLay Money - Yahoo! News

Ohio Congressman Forfeits DeLay Money

Okay--so when is Chocola going to give HIS DeLay money to charity, huh?? We need to pressure him right now.

"WASHINGTON - An Ohio congressman became the fourth House Republican to forfeit or return campaign contributions from a committee run by indicted former Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Rep. Steven LaTourette, who represents northeast Ohio, gave $13,000 from his re-election campaign to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Relief Fund earlier this month. That equaled the contributions his election campaigns had received from DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC since the 1994 election cycle.

LaTourette didn't announce his decision publicly, and his aides declined to talk about it on Friday. LaTourette did discuss it in an Oct. 11 letter to an Aurora Democrat who plans to run against him.

"As a former prosecutor, I trust that the legal system will work and Tom DeLay, like every American, should have his day in court and should be afforded the presumption of innocence. However, in order to remove any questions that may arise about these contributions, I have made a donation in the same amount to the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund," LaTourette wrote to Palmer Peterson.

Peterson had written a letter challenging LaTourette to return the money and posted it on his own campaign Web site.

DeLay stepped aside as the No. 2 GOP leader in the House after he was indicted Sept. 28 on conspiracy charges arising out of an investigation into campaign fundraising in 2002 election races for the Texas state Legislature. He was indicted again five days later on money-laundering charges.

Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Missouri said earlier this month that he, too, sent a check for $14,500 — the amount he had received from DeLay's committee since 1996 — to the Katrina relief fund. Republican Reps. Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire and Heather Wilson of New Mexico returned funds from the committee."