DeLay Ethics Probe Grows Wider, Christianer

Entwining church and state like the warm, tightly interlocked fingers of two fervent men of the Lord, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his former chief of staff and pastor, Ed Buckham, used to engage in "daily voluntary prayer sessions for the staff—until it began making some aides uncomfortable." But that's not all. The relationship between DeLay and Buckham was "unusually close and trusting." No, not that kind ofclose and trusting. Theirs was the kind that inspires racketeering lawsuits and $280,000 fines. Still, there was some mutual, faith-based touching: "According to two sources who worked in the office at the time, the two of them frequently prayed together privately, joining hands in DeLay's office."— GREG BEATO

 DeLay and Company [Time]