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DeLay foresees return to leadership role

Top Republican hopes for quick resolution to conspiracy charge

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step aside last week as as House majority leader, said Sunday he thinks he will return to his leadership position despite an indictment on a conspiracy charge.

"I think it will be over and be over very, very soon. And I think I will go back to be majority leader," DeLay told "Fox News Sunday." "And at the same time, I'm still a member of Congress. I'm going to be working on the agenda and doing everything I can to make good things happen."

DeLay, majority leader since 2002, also said the charge that he conspired to evade campaign finance laws in his home state of Texas was "politics at its sleaziest."

"My lawyers tell me that this is so frivolous, so over the top, so embarrassing to the judiciary that we ought to be able to get it out of here quickly," DeLay said.

DeLay, 58, is accused of conspiring with two associates to steer corporate contributions to state House candidates, which were illegal under state law, by sending the money through GOP groups in Washington.

If convicted, DeLay could face up to two years in prison and fines up to $10,000.

The rules of the GOP conference call for members to give up leadership posts if they are indicted.

The indictment stems from contributions to a political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), which was designed by DeLay to help the GOP capture control of the Texas House in 2002. (Read the indictment -- pdf)

DeLay said Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, was attempting to "change election law through the courts."

Earle has denied any partisan motivation, and told reporters in Austin Wednesday that 12 of the 15 public corruption cases he has prosecuted involved Democrats.

An attorney for DeLay, Dick DeGuerin, told CNN on Thursday that his client didn't violate the law and he hoped a judge would throw out the case. If not, he said, he hoped for a trial by the end of the year.

DeLay told Fox News that reports of a TRMPAC representative sending a list naming seven Texas Republican candidates along with a $190,000 check -- which included corporate money -- to the Republican National Committee have not been proven.

Those candidates did receive money from another arm of the RNC, which is not illegal, DeLay said.

"It is legal in Texas to raise corporate funds to pay for administrative purposes; that's what TRMPAC did," he said. "They had money left over and wanted that money to go legally to other candidates so they sent it to the Republican National State Elections Committee who then takes that money -- legally raised -- and sends it out to candidates in 26 states that can take that kind of money."

Meanwhile, he explained another arm of the RNC was sending out money to the targeted candidates in Texas.

DeLay, who has represented a district in suburban Houston since 1985, has acknowledged helping to raise the corporate money but insisted he had "nothing to do with the day-to-day operations" of the committee.

Republicans and Democrats engaged in a bitter feud over redistricting after Republicans captured control of the Texas House.

Democrats decried the reapportionment as an unfair power grab, but DeLay and other Republican leaders insisted it better reflected the state's strong GOP tilt.

In 2004, Republicans gained a majority of the state's 32 seats in Congress.

The two associates indicted with DeLay on Wednesday, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, are awaiting trial on other charges related to the Texas probe. Each was charged with one count of money laundering in September, and Colyandro faces 13 additional counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution.

DeLay, nicknamed "The Hammer" during his tenure as GOP whip, was admonished by the House ethics committee three times in 2004 over separate issues. The panel urged him to "temper" his future actions to comply with House rules and standards of conduct.

Rep. Christopher Shays has been calling for DeLay's resignation.

On CNN's "Late Edition" Sunday, the Connecticut Republican reiterated that call, saying he did not feel comfortable with DeLay as GOP leader.

"Tom's problem isn't just this," he said. "It's continual acts that border and go sometimes beyond the ethical edge. They may not be illegal, but he's always pushing that ethical edge to the limit."

On Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan praised DeLay as "a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people" and a "good ally" of President Bush.

"The president's view is that we need to let the legal process work," he said.

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