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Key Events in DeLay-Blunt Donation Swaps
Yahoo News/AP
October 5,2005

Key events in the exchange of donations in 2000 between Tom DeLay's political groups and a group belonging to Roy Blunt, the new House majority leader.

  • March 31: DeLay's unregulated ARMPAC convention fund donates $50,000 to the Missouri arm of Blunt's ROYB Fund.

  • April 7: Blunt's ROYB Fund donates $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation.

  • April 7 - May 1: Blunt's ROYBPAC pays $40,000 to Alexander Strategy Group Inc., run by DeLay's former chief of staff Ed Buckham and employing DeLay's wife, Christine.

  • April 14: Northern Mariana Islands-based Concorde Garment Manufacturing, part of the island coalition that hired Jack Abramoff as a lobbyist, contributes $3,000 to Blunt's ROYB Fund. Concorde was sued and fined in the 1990s for alleged sweatshop practices.

  • May 9:Blunt's ROYB Fund donates $1,000 to the Cancer Research Foundation of America through Jim Ellis, a DeLay fundraiser.

  • May 19: Blunt's ROYB Fund pays $968.03 to Ellis' company.

  • May 24: ARMPAC convention fund contributes $100,000 more to Blunt's ROYB Fund.

  • May 25-June 3: DeLay takes trip to Scotland and England arranged by Abramoff and partly funded by Abramoff's clients.

  • June 15: Blunt's ROYBPAC contributes $100,000 to Missouri Republican Party.

  • July 25: Missouri GOP spends $11,174 on behalf of Matt Blunt's successful secretary of state campaign in Missouri. It's the first of more than $160,000 the state GOP gives Blunt's son after his father's donation.

  • Aug. 2: Jennifer Calvert, a member of Abramoff's Marianas lobbying team, attends ARMPAC event at Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

  • Sept. 11: Abramoff has discussion with Alexander Strategy Group's Buckham.

  • Sept. 12: Abramoff lobbying team member talks with the press secretary to then-Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan about news stories related to the Mariana Islands.

  • Sept. 15: Abramoff has another discussion with Alexander Strategy Group's Buckham.

  • Sept. 19: Abramoff colleague has e-mail discussion with Abramoff re "Missouri press issue related to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands."

  • Sept. 22: Abramoff has discussion with Alexander Strategy Group's Buckham. Same day, Abramoff talks to Michael Scanlon and to Tony Rudy, two aides in DeLay's office.

  • Oct. 26: DeLay's ARMPAC non-federal account contributes $50,000 to Missouri Republican Party.

  • Nov. 7: Matt Blunt wins election for Missouri secretary of state.

  • Nov.28-Dec. 31: Missouri Republican Party contributes $50,000 back to DeLay's ARMPAC non-federal account, according to DeLay's group's tax filing.

  • Nov. 27: Abramoff's firm charges its Marianas client for a meeting between its Marianas lobbying team and Blunt congressional aide Trevor Blackann.

  • Sept. 5, 2001: Abramoff Marianas lobbying team member meets with Blunt staffer to discuss strategy on legislation that would impose the minimum wage on Marianas employers.

  • Sept. 9: A member of Abramoff's Marianas lobbying team has discussion with Blunt regarding minimum wage legislation and a bill regarding the Marianas sponsored by Democratic Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record). Williams discusses Miller legislation with DeLay staffer D. Flynn the same day.

  • Sept. 30, 2001: Abramoff lobbying team member meets with a Blunt staffer to discuss client issues including minimum wage legislation.

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