U.S. Family Network

U.S. Family Network, Inc. (USFN) was founded in 1996 by Ed Buckham, who also served as the organization's consultant. USFN was a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) corporation founded in Virginia, with its principal offices located in the District of Columbia in the same building as Buckham's consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group and Tom DeLay's political action committee Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC). USFN received $500,000 from the NRCC and $1 million from lobbyist Jack Abramoff's Russian clients.

Much of the money went to Buckham and his wife, Alexander Strategy Group, and a 15-year lease on a Washington Redskins skybox used by Abramoff. The group closed in 2001 while under a Federal Election Commission probe, distributing several hundred thousands of dollars in remaining assets among people associated with USFN. The townhouse was sold at below market value to U.S. Representative Jim Ryun (R-KS).

The activities of USFN are under investigation by the Justice Department; a subpoena for USFN documents was issued in February 2006, naming Abramoff, Tony Rudy and his wife Lisa, Tom DeLay and his wife Christine, Buckham and his wife Wendy, Ralph Reed, and Grover Norquist.

The U.S. Family Network was largely funded by clients of embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Payments to the group of up to $1 million coincided with votes and other actions taken by Tom DeLay in Congress in favor of the "donors."

Northern Marianas Islands tycoon Willie Tan, an Abramoff client, gave USFN $650,000.

$364,500 in donations to USFN from firms associated with Abramoff were in turn given to the Alexander Strategy Group.

The Dubya Report reported April 20, 2005 (updated December 29, 2005), that in 1998, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee "filed a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit against DeLay and his fundraising operations. DeLay's operation had begun in 1994 when Newt Gingrich slashed DeLay's budget as House Whip. DeLay responded by setting up an organization of his own that would extend his power by contributing to the political campaigns of his colleagues. He hired tobacco lobbyist and anti-union activist Karl Gallant, and induced Enron's Ken Lay to contribute $500,000 to ARMPAC. Enron also came up with a $750,000 consulting contract for Gallant and DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham. Buckham would later set up his own lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, which boasted DeLay's wife Christine, a retired schoolteacher, on its staff at a $40,000 a year salary.

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