The research shows that members of these groups’ boards have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and political organizations and several of their staff members have previously worked for Democrats. The groups have also accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Open Society Institute, an organization founded by Soros, who spent millions trying to defeat President Bush in last year’s election.

The emergence of the detailed research follows talking points that the Republican National Committee (RNC) distributed last week labeling four government watchdog groups as liberal and having “close ties to left wing leaders like George Soros.” Together, the documents indicate a concerted Republican effort to quell what has become a media feeding frenzy surrounding DeLay and allegations of his improper conduct.

Over a five-day span, ending last Thursday, TV and radio stations and print publications from around the country featured at least 290 stories either about a controversial junket he took to Scotland in 2000, his response to criticism about the propriety of that trip or his offer to discuss the matter with the House ethics committee, according to a survey. The articles by The Associated Press, Reuters, Knight Ridder and The Washington Post were picked up by news outlets around the country.

The latest spate of broadcasts and articles, a glut of the type of negative coverage that has plagued DeLay in recent years, likely explains why his name identification has risen from 46 percent to 76 percent between September 1999 and last month, according to several CNN/USA Today/ Gallup surveys of adults nationwide, cited by Democrats. During the same span, DeLay’s unfavorable ratings have swelled from 11 percent to 24 percent, according to the same surveys.

“The DeLay scandal is getting to the point where House Republicans just won’t be able to withstand much more,” a Democratic aide said. “With every story that is written, it becomes more clear that House Republicans are risking their political futures by associating themselves with him. When literally hundreds of stories about the GOP leader’s shoddy ethics are appearing in nearly every local and regional paper across the country, you can’t blame voters for painting them all with the same brush.”

Last week’s focus on House ethics was spurred in part by a press conference held last Tuesday by members of the Congressional Ethics Coalition, a group of nine government watchdog groups. The conference was called to decry the immobilization of the House ethics panel, which has yet to organize because of objections by ranking Democrat Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) to changes House GOP leaders made to ethics procedure at the start of the new Congress. But watchdog groups also used the opportunity to attack DeLay.

Later that day, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered a resolution on the House floor calling for a bipartisan panel to review the chamber’s ethics procedures.

Republicans charge this and other evidence reveals a coordinated effort between House Democrats and government watchdog groups to damage DeLay and the GOP leadership politically. GOP aides point to a plan being crafted by Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, to use ethics as a touchstone in races against DeLay and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), as The Hill reported last week.
One target of Republican criticism is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the group that last year assisted former Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) in drafting an ethics complaint against DeLay, which resulted in an admonishment of DeLay from the ethics committee. At last week’s press conference, Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said that DeLay should step down as majority leader.

From 1995 to 1998, CREW’s Sloan served as minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee under Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Before that, Sloan served as the nominations counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.).

According to GOP research, Mark Penn, who had been a pollster for President Clinton, and Daniel Berger, a major Democratic donor, are on CREW’s board. Spokeswoman Naomi Seligman declined several requests to reveal the membership of CREW’s board, although she confirmed that Penn and Berger are members. Last year, Berger made a $100,000 contribution to America Coming Together (ACT), a 527 group that was dedicated to defeating Bush in the presidential election, according to politicalmoneyline.com, a website that tracks fundraising.

CREW declined to respond to the RNC talking points or House GOP research.

Another target is Democracy 21, headed by Fred Wertheimer. GOP research showed that the group’s board of directors has given “tens of thousands to Democrats.” A survey by The Hill of fundraising data on politicalmoneyline.com showed that three members of the group’s board, including Dick Clark, a former Democratic senator from Iowa, gave nearly $20,000 in contributions to Democrats since the beginning of the 2000 election cycle. Republicans received nothing from board members, according to the survey by The Hill.

Lexa Edsall, a consultant to the group, served in the Clinton administration, and Amanda Lewis, the communications director, worked for former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo (N.Y.), according to the GOP research. Wertheimer confirmed the information about Edsall and Lewis, adding that Lewis worked as an intern at Cuomo’s law firm, suggesting that Republicans have left few stones unturned in their efforts to discredit the watchdog groups.

Democracy 21’s education fund also received a $50,000 grant from Soros’s institute in 2003, the most recent year for which data are available, according to a 990 form filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The GOP research paper states that the group has received $300,000 in total from the Open Society Institute.

Wertheimer responded by noting that he has in the past asked for a Justice Department investigation of President Clinton’s campaign finances and filed Federal Election Committee (FEC) complaints against former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). He also provided a letter from former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie for comments Wertheirmer filed with the FEC arguing for greater restriction of 527 political groups, which Democrats relied on in 2004.