NEWS The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 6, 2005 - 5A * Details divulged about Delay s illegal fun maiig Majority whip Roy Blunt accepted illegal funds from DeLay WASHINGTON (AP) - Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes. When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Jack Abramoff, a Washington lob- byist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investiga- tion, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundrais- er indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture. The complicated transactions are DRUGS Continued from page 1A ineligible for aid if they were convict- ed of a drug related offense at any time in the past, even in high school. The House committee on education and the workforce said the original drawing scrutiny in legal and politi- cal circles after a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges of violating Texas law with a scheme to launder illegal corporate donations to state candi- dates. The government's former chief elec- tion enforcement lawyer said the Blunt and DeLay transactions are similar to the Texas case and raise questions that should be investigated regarding wheth- er donors were deceived or the true des- tination of their money was concealed. "These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions," said Lawrence Noble. "It seems to be a pat- tern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source," said Noble, who was the Federal Elec- tion Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred. None of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations DeLay collected for the 2000 convention were ever dis- closed to federal regulators because the MILITARY Continued from page 1A point on homosexuals' colleagues because the military is not allowed to discriminate outright," she said. "You have men and women who are enlisting who really want to serve the country but are being told they can't for a silly reason." Students at schools like the Uni- versity of California-Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin-Madi- « son, Harvard Uni- You have versity and Yalea University have and wom recently voiced a- concerns to their are enlisti administrations or really wan have held protests about military serve the recruiters being on campus. but are be A t Stanford, a , group of law stu- they can t dents, called the silly reaso OUTlaws, held a successful pro- test Monday when military recruiters Univ arrived on cam- Un pus, co-president De and Stanford Law student Michael Angelo said. The group passed out pins pro- moting equality, wore camouflage shirts and covered themselves in duct tape with the words "Don't ask, don't tell" written on it. They also had their own table in satirical protest of the military's, calling it a non-hospitality table with cookies on it. They posted signs on it that said only heterosexual students could eat the cookies. going to stand men en who ng who it to country ing told fora n. -Jaya Kalra versity Stonewall mocrats co-chair Only two people signed up for interviews with the recruiters and both signed up to protest the mili- tary's policy. After the first sign up, the recruiters left, Angelo said. "They had come to the conclusion that no one was legitimately inter- ested in talking to them," he added. Angelo said the protest was effec- tive. "It was really important to let the military know we are not just idle," he said. "It also let the uni- versity know that LGBT students are against allowing recruiters to come to campus." Last November, the legality of the Solomon Amend- ment was success- fully challenged in a Philadelphia fed- eral appeals court by 24 universities collectively called the Forum for Aca- demic and Insti- tutional Rights or FAIR. But by a vote of 327-84, the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives support- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) appears during the taping of "FOX News Sunday" in an effort to maintain an active role in Republican leadership. type of group DeLay used wasn't gov- erned by federal law at the time. DeLay has temporarily stepped aside as majority leader after being indicted by a Texas prosecutor. Blunt - who had been majority whip, the No. 3 Republi- can in the House - has taken over much of that role in DeLay's absence. Spokesmen for the two Republican leaders say they disclosed what was required by law at the time and believe all their transactions were legal, though donors might not always have know where their money was headed. Margaret Rodriguez, Vice President of the University's financial aid office, said that the bill has had a fairly small impact on University students. . But Scarlett Swardlow executive director of Students For Sensible Drug Policy said that it is often difficult for individual universities to monitor how many students are denied aid as a result of the anti-drug provision because if an application talked for aid is denied, no explanation is were arrested by the AAPD. Even if a student is convicted of a drug offense on the state level they have the option of not telling anyone about it when they apply for aid. "We have talked to parents who encourage students to lie on their application so that they could receive financial aid," Swardlow said. "One of the really unfortunate con- sequences of this provision is that it's promoting dishonesty." Rodriguez said she felt smaller schools and community colleges would be more affected by the provision than the University of Michigan. Many share her concern that the law primarily affects lower income students, who can't get by without the aid, and students from minority populations who are often dispropor- tionately convicted of drug related crime. "The war on drugs was the national cry at the time, and they were trying to fight it on all fronts, but this probably wasn't the best front to be fighting it on," Rodriguez said. ed the law in February, leading the Bush administration to appeal the federal appeals court's ruling to the Supreme Court. The University is not a member of FAIR. "It's clear at this point that the Solomon Amendment is binding law, and until something changes, that there isn't any room for con- versation," Law School Dean Evan Caminker told The Michigan Daily in December 2004. provision was never roactively penalize students who were convicted in the past. "(The new amend- ment) would ensure that the provision serves as a deter- rent rather than an additional reach- back; it will correct the misapplication," said Alexa Marrero, spokesperson for the committee. Students for Sen- sible Drug Policy, a intended to ret- "We have to parents who encourage sutdents to lie on their application..." - Scarlett Swardlow executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy given. State-by- state figures of students denied aid are not pub- licly available. Another reason that the Univer- sity may not be largely impacted is that much of the University's drug prosecution is han- vocal opponent of Souder's provision, have argued that the partial repeal would not be enough. "It's like slapping a bandana on a gaping wound," said Tom Angell, cam- paign director of the organization's national chapter. "It would still leave tens of thousands of students behind." dIed internally. Drug offenses handled by the Department of Public Safety instead of the Ann Arbor Police Department would not make a student ineligible to receive aid. According to the 2005 campus safe- ty handbook, 71 people were arrested on campus for drug related offenses by the DPS last year; only four people MIDNIGHT MOVIES EVERY SATURDAY INHCTOER BRUCE CAMPBELL SHA\UN of THE DEAD SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 @ MIDNIGHT FOR MORE INFO VISIT WW.IHH ATE.G/STATE.PHP Share your space, but live on your own.