ustxtxb_obs_2005_08_26_50_00011-00000_000.pdf

Cris Feldman, more than any other, has brought the TRMPAC scandal to light. All photos by Jana Birchum. Plaintiffs’ lawyers Dave Richards and Joe Crews. puts it, the “pink elephant” in the civil suit, not charged in Texas with any wrongdoing, but the focus of attention nonetheless. On September 21, 2004, a Travis County grand jury returned 32 criminal indictments against three individuals and eight corporations. The grand jury indicted Ellis, Colyandro, and Warren RoBold, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate fundraiser. RoBold and Ellis were both close colleagues of DeLay, with Ellis serving as director of the leader’s PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority. In an interview in 2003, Ellis told the Observer that DeLay had hoped to use TRMPAC as a model for other states. Thanks in no small part to Cris Feldman and his colleagues, it’s unlikely that will happen. It’s not very hard to imagine Terry Scarborough seducing a jury. He has the look of a film star. One blogger at the trial compared him to Jack Palance. Decades of trial experience have burnished an easygoing folksy demeanor. His conversation is punctuated with amusing anecdotes delivered in a soft West Texas drawl. But bring up the topic of Cris Feldman, and Scarborough falls out of character a bit. He cannot hide his irritation. It’s a frustration that grew throughout the trial and culminated in a post-trial press conference where he blasted Feldman for dishonesty and unethical conduct. “I don’t have great respect for Feldman for a lot of different reasons,” Scarborough says, while sitting in his spacious and well-appointed downtown office. \(When asked about the attacks on him, Feldman, whose office is not much bigger than a walk-in closet, plays coy. “I have the utmost respect for Terry,” he says with a smile. “It really was a shame to see Scarborough cites the 34-year-old Feldman’s lack of experience as one reason for their conflicts. The older lawyer began practicing around the time Feldman was born. Scarborough also dredges up charges that his predecessor, Andy Taylor, tried unsuccessfully to peddle. Taylor had originally both represented TAB, and TRMPAC and Ceverha but dropped out of the latter case. Crews speculates that Taylor wanted to focus on the more lucrative redistricting litigation; he subsequently charged the state more than $700,000 to defend the congressional redistricting plan passed by the newly minted Republican majority. Scarborough is a partner at the GOP-connected continued on page 23 AUGUST 26, 2005 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11