AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The subpoena list for former U.S. House Speaker Tom DeLay's conspiracy trial in Austin, Texas, is a who's who of former power brokers, observers say.
DeLay lawyers have subpoenaed associates of disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Texas speaker Tom Craddick, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza and Austin lobbyist Buddy Jones, the Austin American-Statesman reported Saturday.
Travis County prosecutors have called chief executives of companies indicted for donating corporate money, several state lawmakers, former DeLay staffers and a bevy of Beltway lobbyists, among others, the report said.
The newspaper said jurors may have to become reacquainted with DeLay, a Republican known as "the Hammer." DeLay heavily influenced Texas politics before the conspiracy indictment sent him into from Congress in 2006.
Travis County prosecutors are under orders from Judge Pat Priest, a senior jurist from San Antonio who's presiding over the trial, not to discuss their case.
The newspaper said the core of the conspiracy charge is $190,000 of corporate money that DeLay's political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, sent to the Republican National Committee. An RNC affiliate, in turn, donated the same amount from its non-corporate account to seven Texas candidates -- but state law prohibits corporate or union money from being donated to candidates.
Jury selection begins Oct. 26, and testimony is set to begin the following week, the American-Statesman said.
