S.S. DeLay Taking on Water?

Matt Drudge tonight has one of his famous big headlines (no sirens though): "Papers Link DeLay to Russian Lobby". He cites "newsroom sources" as saying the Times and Post will report in leading stories Wednesday that

A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements.... Developing...

Developing indeed. More as it becomes available. It's almost time to sink this dinghy.

[Update: The Washington Post story, "A 3rd DeLay Travel Controversy" by R. Jeffrey Smith and James Grimaldi is available here. It notes that a 1997 trip to Russia by DeLay and some staffers was paid for by "a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000 lobbying campaign" The article notes that the funds were diverted through a nonprofit organization, the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Philip Shenon's article in the New York Times, "Political Groups Paid Two Relatives of House Leader" is available here. Based on FEC and other fundraising records, Shenon reports that DeLay's wife and daughter have been "paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by Mr. DeLay's political action and campaign committees". The payments to DeLay's family members are labeled in disclosure forms in wonderfully vague terms such as "fund-raising fees," "campaign management," and "payroll". -- 11:23 p.m.]