Naked City

Who knew that boastful statements made in a business group's newsletter more than a year ago would eventually lead criminal investigators to the office of House Speaker Tom Craddick?

So it goes in the perpetually expanding probe into the corporate financing of an aggressive political ad campaign that helped secure a Republican majority in the state House of Representatives in 2002. A Travis Co. grand jury is investigating whether corporate contributions were illegally used to sway voters in two dozen legislative races during that election cycle.

The investigation started with the Texas Association of Business – the group that raised corporate money to finance its ad blitz – which in turn followed a circuitous money trail to Texans for a Republican Majority, a group founded by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. In the latest developments, Travis Co. prosecutors last week issued subpoenas to Craddick and several veteran House representatives, including Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, ordering them to produce pledge cards and other documents pertaining to Craddick's campaign for the speaker's post. Those documents were to be turned over by today (Thursday). In a statement released Feb. 19, District Attorney Ronnie Earle said his office was investigating "possible criminal conduct" in connection with Craddick's rise to power. His office was expected to issue dozens more subpoenas this week. A Travis Co. grand jury will review the documents to determine if state laws were violated. But time is running short; the grand jury's term expires at the end of March.

According to state law, speaker candidates are forbidden to accept money or "other things of value" from outside groups, or to use campaign contributions to influence members' votes in the speaker race. As previously reported, Craddick helped raise funds for DeLay's TRMPAC and then distributed contributions totaling $152,000 to several Republican House candidates.

Whatever the outcome of the investigation, Campaigns for People director Fred Lewis said, "the influx of substantial corporate money in our 2002 elections merited a thorough, serious investigation. I think Earle's office is doing that, and we should be proud of him and Gregg Cox [head of the office's Public Integrity Unit]."