Edwin Buckham paid Christine DeLay

The first thing you should know is that he is the target of a sizable front page expose in tomorrow's Washington Post.

Buckham is the latest DeLay staffer to be linked to Jack Abramoff and the funny money business. The WaPo initially describes Buckham as DeLay's former chief of staff and later as working for DeLay in the Whip's office. I suspect that Buckham was the Chief of Staff at the Whip's office (as opposed to DeLay's Congressional office), but his precise role is not immediately clear to me.

Prior to leaving DeLay's employ, Buckham founded a nonprofit called the US Family Network and Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbying firm. Most of the article recounts Abramoff-linked funds to these two groups. USFN and the Alexander Strategy Group are portrayed as entities with the sole function to enrich Buckham. Perhaps there was some legitimate lobbying services provided by Buckham's groups, but the WaPo doesn't mention it. And remember, Buckham and Abramoff could be two peas in a pod. It's a lot to digest. I actually feel that I understand Enron's Powers Report better than this article.

Here is the most puzzling quote in the article:

During this latter period, Buckham and his wife, Wendy, acting through their consulting firm, made monthly payments averaging $3,200-$3,400 apiece to DeLay's wife, Christine, for three of the years in which he collected money from the USFN and some other clients.

The WaPo doesn't articulate what, if any, services Christine DeLay provided the consulting firm. I believe "the consulting firm" is the Alexander Strategy Group. (The WaPo's writing leaves a lot to be desired - this is the first time the word "consulting" appears in the article.)

I'll ask the obvious question: Why in the world was Christine DeLay getting money from a consulting firm with links to Abramoff? Smells bad to me. Team DeLay needs to get in front of this.

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Update

There is no evidence DeLay received a direct financial benefit, but Buckham's firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, and paid her a salary of at least $3,200 each month for three of the years the group existed. Richard Cullen, DeLay's attorney, has said that the pay was compensation for lists Christine DeLay supplied to Buckham of lawmakers' favorite charities, and that it was appropriate under House rules and election law.

So Christine supplied lists of Congressmen's favorite charities. Make what you will from that.

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It looks like Edwin Buckham is the third former DeLay staffer under investigation in this scandal.

One last item from the WaPo. The paper tells us that Buckham is an evangelical minister and DeLay's spiritual adviser. I'm pretty confident that like Abramoff, DeLay also discussed the Bible with Buckham.