I smell blood.

And Tom DeLay's most especially.

Could this be the beginning of subpoena season? Democratic National Committee head Terry McAuliffe and consumer advocacy group Public Citizen have requested that the Justice Department seize the records of fundraising groups associated with Majority Leader DeLay and three other Republican congressmen (Barton-TX, Tauzin-LA, and in the Senate, Shelby-AL) over allegations of bribery involving energy company Westar.

Westar put the e-mails on its Web site as part of a much larger disclosure of an internal investigation into allegedly corrupt practices at the company. The company has acknowledged that it is under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Topeka, Kan., and by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among the e-mails is one from May 20, 2002, in which Westar Vice President Douglas Lawrence wrote to Douglas T. Lake, an executive vice president, and said:

"We are working on getting our grandfather provision on PUHCA repeal into the Senate version of the energy bill. It requires working with the Conference committee . . . . We have a plan for participation to get a seat at the table, which has been approved by David [Wittig, then Westar's chief executive], the total of the package will be $31,500 in hard money (individual), and $25,000 in soft money (corporate)." (Washington Post)

My, my, that is very, what's the word, specific, now isn't it? The law the corporation was trying to circumvent is the Public Utility Holding Company Act. Westar wanted to split off its regulated public utilities from its other companies. Once they had two companies they could then transfer all the different companies' $3 billion debt to the utility and then pay for all that debt with rate hikes on a captive customer population. And just as icing, all the non-utility companies would then be free of regulatory oversight, which would make swindles like these decidedly easier the next go-round. Classy, huh?

Kansas, unsurprisingly, said you will do no such thing. Feh, said Westar, we'll see what the federal government has to say about that. Their quest to get around the Kansas law got tangled, though, because part of Bush's energy plan was the PUHCA, which was intended to protect shareholders and ratepayers from just this very sort of maneuver. Dammit. So they went to the Great Oracle of Corporate Wrongdoing, the House Republican Caucus, and pined, "If only there were some magical means to get an exemption just for us." And behold, magical means didst appear.

The documents show at least one Westar executive questioned why he was contributing to GOP candidates he did not know. The answer, according to the documents: DeLay, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, Rep. Joe Barton and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby were needed for their help on the exemption and had asked that donations be directed, not to their own campaigns, but to those of fellow Republicans in tight races in 2002. Among the beneficiaries were a DeLay fund-raising committee that got $25,000; Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who got $1,000 from a Westar executive; and Tom Young, Shelby's former chief of staff, whose unsuccessful run for Congress attracted $1,700 in Westar executives' donations.

"DeLay is the House Majority Leader" and "his agreement is necessary before the House Conferees can push the language we have in place in the House bill," one Westar executive wrote in an e-mail encouraging the donations. "Shimkus is a close associate of Billy Tauzin and Joe Barton, who are key House Conferees on our legislation. They have made this request in lieu of contributions made to their own campaigns." The same e-mail added: "Tom Young is Sen. Shelby's Chief of Staff who is running for the House in Alabama" and Shelby "made a substantial request of us for supporting Young's campaign." (Kansas City Star)

So the money was sent, and Westar got its own special exemption - in the House and the Senate - to do the very thing both state and federal law expressly forbade it to do. And you might never have heard anything about it, except that soon after this, their CEO got indicted and Westar found themselves the target of all kinds of investigations into their bookkeeping. Of course, once the federal grand jury was seated, both chambers removed the exemption, but it's a little late for covering their tracks on this, which is about as open-and-shut a case of bribery as you're likely to encounter.

A two-pronged defense strategy from the accused legislators seems to be emerging. Part one consists of loudly proclaiming: "Why, the nerve of you to accuse me of such a thing!" Part two consists of loudly proclaiming: "Terry McAuliffe is a dick." As to the second prong, well yes, that's not exactly a secret. However, it's a little beside the point. And to the first, yes, you. Tell it to the judge.

No wonder Cheney wants to keep those notes from the energy policy task force secret.

UPDATE (2:45 pm): I see Joe Conason reported on this yesterday.

Much of the self-dealing by the Westar management will be all too familiar to anyone who has read about Enron, Tyco, and the other sinkholes of business morality. These Midwestern fatcats reportedly awarded themselves gigantic bonuses, built themselves a $6.6 million executive suite, flew themselves and their families around the country in the corporate jet without reimbursement, falsified records to cover their tracks. And if their own notations are to be believed, several of them participated in a scheme to bribe House Majority Leader Tom "the Hammer" DeLay and other prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill.

[...]

This remarkable peek at the way the world really works raises three immediate questions: How will federal prosecutors in Wichita handle this blatant bribery scheme? Will any of the Westar suits roll over and talk about the company's friends on Capitol Hill? And will any of the Congressional Democrats - or for that matter, honest Republicans - muster the courage to file complaints against Tauzin, Barton, Shelby and especially DeLay with the so-called ethics committees of their respective chambers? (Maybe you should ask them.)