Circling the Drain

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed payroll records from the House for Ed Buckham, former chief of staff to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). The subpoena, issued by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., is the first formal notification that Buckham is the focus of a federal corruption probe by the Justice Department.

Buckham, DeLay’s “spiritual advisor” and former chief of staff, resigned to start his own lobbying outfit, the Alexander Strategy Group. Alexander employed DeLay’s wife Christine, as well as Julie Doolittle, the wife of Republican Congressman John Doolittle. Doolittle, like DeLay, has had his house searched by the FBI looking for evidence of his involvement in Jack Abramoff’s crimes.

The Alexander Strategy Group lobbied for Brent Wilkes, who is on trial for bribing jailed Congressman Duke Cunningham. It was the Wilkes investigation that put the D C Madam in the news. I’m going to fall out laughing if we learn that Buckham was sending hookers to DeLay after his sanctimonious reaction to Newt Gingrich’s antics during the Clinton impeachment.