ASHINGTON - House Democrats, citing civil racketeering laws, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the House Republican whip, Tom DeLay. The suit alleged that he oversees a network that extorts contributions and that evades federal disclosure requirements.
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, the Rhode Island Democrat who is chairman of the Democratic campaign committee, said DeLay heads an operation ''hammering contributors for money, threatening to punish those who decline, and setting up a shadow party structure outside public view and our laws.''
Several of DeLay's aides greeted reporters arriving for the news conference where the suit was announced, and handed them written statements accusing Democrats of ''resorting to ugly, unfounded, politically motivated charges.''
''I say today to the Democrats in the leadership who have begun this ugly fight, stop now before the honor and dignity of the House ... is permanently damaged,'' DeLay's statement said.
In their legal complaint and in responses to reporters' questions, Democrats cited numerous newspaper and magazine articles but said they had no independent proof of their assertions. They said they hope to question DeLay's associates as the lawsuit proceeds.
The suit, filed in US District Court, was the latest in the charges and counter-charges between the political parties over alleged fund-raising violations.
It serves as an election-season counter to a GOP effort to make a campaign issue of Vice President Al Gore's fund-raising activities in the 1996 election. And beginning with the departure of former speaker Newt Gingrich 16 months ago, Democrats have periodically tried to turn Delay into a symbol of the GOP Congress that they repeatedly accuse of arrogant extremism.
Ken Gross, a lawyer and former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, said, ''It's a stretch to say you can apply'' the antirackeeting laws ''to political fund-raising and make it stick.''
He added, though, that if Democrats can win the right to subpoena documents, they could gain access to internal memoranda and ''cause a lot of consternation'' to DeLay.
The Democrats' suit alleges that as whip, DeLay has ''threatened to withhold favorable action on'' bills unless an affected party increased contributions to Republicans and cut them to Democrats.
DeLay and his agents ''have engaged in a scheme to extort political contributions from individuals and entities with interests before Congress and to avoid otherwise applicable reporting requirements relating to donors and political contributions,'' the suit says.
It alleges that DeLay has established a network of political organizations, independent from traditional GOP groups, that is not registered under federal election law and that does not report on donors. The suit says DeLay's operation directs GOP donors to contribute to these organizations, thus evading reporting requirements.
These groups were identified as the US Family Network, the Republican Majority Issues Committee, and Americans for Economic Growth. The DeLay aides involved were named as Ed Buckham, his former chief of staff, Karl Gallant, and Jim Ellis.
Gallant issued a statement labeling the suit ''an attack by party hacks against independent issues groups, and therefore an attack on the First Amendment as well.''
