Crap, like cream, floats to the top — the latest DeLay files

The name of Tom DeLay, along with wife Christine, is circulating along with Ohio’s Bob Ney as being officially under the gun in the Jack Abramoff lobbying corruption scandal. Here’s why Christine DeLay is drawing scrutiny:

Alexander Strategy Group is run by former DeLay senior staffers Edwin A. Buckham and Tony C. Rudy. Rudy served as DeLay's deputy chief of staff until 2001, when he took a job with Abramoff, and later moved on to join Buckham.

Investigators are looking into whether Rudy aided Abramoff's lobbying clients while he was working on the Hill, the sources said, and are reviewing payments from Abramoff clients and associates to Liberty Consulting, a political firm founded by Rudy's wife, Lisa. The Washington Post reported last month that Rudy, while on DeLay's staff, helped scuttle a bill opposed by eLottery Inc., an Abramoff client, and that Abramoff had eLottery pay a foundation to hire Liberty Consulting.

Richard Cullen, an attorney for the DeLays, said Christine DeLay was hired by Buckham, an old family friend, to determine the favorite charity of every member of Congress. She was paid $3,200 to $3,400 a month for three years, or about $115,000 total, he said.

But really, this is all a misunderstanding, her attorney says.

“It wasn't like she did this 9 to 5, but it was an ongoing project,” Cullen said. He said Christine DeLay’s work was commensurate with the project and had nothing to do with her husband or any official congressional business. “This was something that she found to be very interesting, very challenging and very worthwhile,” Cullen said.

Oh, I’m sure she found it interesting to get $3,000 a month for three-four hours a week of work, along with her husband getting free trips to Scotland and other trashy trinkets and sordid payoffs.