DeLay airfare charged to lobbyist's card

WASHINGTON — The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit-card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.

DeLay's expenses during the same trip for food, phone calls and other items at a golf-course hotel in Scotland were billed to a different credit card also used on the trip by another Washington lobbyist, Edwin Buckham, according to receipts documenting that portion of the trip.

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting travel and related expenses from registered lobbyists. DeLay, who is now House majority leader, has said his expenses on this trip were paid by a nonprofit organization.

He also has said he had no way of knowing that any lobbyist might have financially supported the trip, either directly or through reimbursements to the nonprofit organization.

The documents obtained by The Washington Post, including receipts for his hotel stays in Scotland and London and billings for his golfing during the trip at the famed St. Andrews course in Scotland, substantiate for the first time that some of DeLay's expenses on the trip were billed to charge cards used by the two lobbyists.

The invoice for DeLay's plane fare lists the name of what was then Abramoff's law and lobbying firm, Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis.

Multiple sources, including DeLay's then-chief of staff Susan Hirschmann, have confirmed that DeLay's congressional office was in direct contact with Preston Gates about the trip itinerary before DeLay's departure. These contacts raise questions about DeLay's statement that he had no way of knowing about the financial and logistical support provided by Abramoff and his firm.

Tom DeLay faces questions about three trips.

House ethics rules obligate lawmakers to "make inquiry on the source of the funds that will be used to pay" for any travel ostensibly financed by a nonprofit organization, to rule out the acceptance of reimbursements that come from one organization when a trip is "in fact organized and conducted by someone else."

On Saturday, DeLay's lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, said that DeLay's staff was aware that Preston Gates was trying to arrange meetings and hotels for the trip but that DeLay was unaware of the "logistics" of bill payments, and that DeLay "continues to understand his expenses" were properly paid by the nonprofit organization, the National Center for Public Policy Research.

In 2000, Abramoff was a board member of the group. Hirschmann said the contacts between DeLay's office and Preston Gates occurred because Abramoff "was a board member of the sponsoring organization." Hirschmann added: "We were assured that the National Center paid for the trip."

House rules do not exempt nonprofit board members from the prohibition on lobbyist payments for travel. They also state this prohibition "applies even where the lobbyist ... will later be reimbursed for those expenses by a nonlobbyist client."

Burchfield did not dispute that Abramoff used his credit card to pay for DeLay's plane fare but said in a statement that "to the extent that Mr. Abramoff put the charges on his personal credit card, Mr. DeLay has no knowledge of this."

Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff, did not respond to questions relating to the use of Abramoff's credit card for DeLay's plane fare. But he said it was the National Center that "sponsored" the trip, "not Jack Abramoff."

DeLay was admonished three times last year by the House ethics committee for violating rules governing lawmakers' activities and their contacts with lobbyists. House ethics rules bar the payment by lobbyists for any lawmaker's travel-connected entertainment and recreational activities costing more than $50.

In an article last month about DeLay's trip, The Post reported that an Indian tribe and a gambling-services company made donations to the National Center for Public Policy Research that covered most of the expenses declared by participants at that time.

The article also said these payments were made two months before DeLay voted against legislation opposed by the tribe and the company. DeLay has said the vote was unrelated to the payments.

The article also reported that Abramoff submitted an expense voucher to Preston Gates seeking reimbursement of $12,789.73 to cover expenses for meals, hotels and transportation during the London and Scotland trip incurred by DeLay; his wife, Christine; and his two aides.

The new receipts add more detail about these expenses, make clear that the total expenses for all of the participants were at least $50,000 more than was previously known, and connect Abramoff directly to the payment of some charges.

The travel receipts do not make clear how the expenses for the entire trip — which involved at least 10 people and which two sources said exceeded $120,000 — were paid.

One source familiar with the billings said Saturday that the National Center reimbursed Abramoff for the charges incurred by DeLay and his staff that were billed to Abramoff's credit card. However, the receipts do not indicate whether some of the charges incurred by Abramoff were ultimately reimbursed and, if so, by whom.

The receipts make clear that flights for DeLay and his wife were initially billed to Abramoff.

Although Amy Ridenour, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, has said she organized the trip, two other sources said that DeLay's round-trip business-class tickets on Continental Airlines and British Airways were booked by Preston Gates employees.

The itinerary and invoice for DeLay's trip, prepared by a travel service in Seattle, were sent by the service to Preston Gates on May 23, 2000, according to a copy of the invoice. That was two days before DeLay's departure. The invoice states that DeLay's tickets cost $6,938.70.

The records also indicate that the expenses associated with DeLay exceeded those that he declared in a signed statement to the House clerk on June 30, 2000. That form listed the purpose of the trip as "educational" and gave a tally of $28,106 in expenses for DeLay and his wife. It stated that all of these charges were paid by the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Receipts from the golfing portion of the trip show that DeLay accumulated additional charges that totaled in the tens of thousands of dollars for the entire group. Fees associated with playing golf are not listed on DeLay's travel-disclosure form.

A copy of the $184 bill for the DeLays' expenses during the trip at a separate hotel in St. Andrews — the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa — states that those charges were paid by the same American Express credit card used on the trip by Buckham, the lobbyist, to pay for his own hotel room at the Glasgow Hilton.

Buckham could not be reached by phone and did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.