Biggest companies, executives among donors to DeLay Foundation

The 19-year-old charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids, has consistently declined to identify its donors, citing their desire for privacy.
But a review of corporate and charitable records shows that recent donors have included AT&T, the Corrections Corporation of America, Exxon Mobil, Limited Brands and the Southern Company, as well as Bill and Melinda Gates -- the Microsoft founder and his wife -- and Michael Dell of Dell computers.
The Gates and Dell family foundations have donated at least $350,000 to DeLay's charity since 2001. Among the largest corporate gifts was a $100,000 check given to DeLay last year by the Corrections Corporation of Nashville, which manages federal prisons. AT&T and Exxon Mobil say they have each donated $50,000.
Like other charities, the DeLay Foundation, which operates from a post office box near the Republican's house in Sugar Land, is not required under federal laws to release a donors' list. Nor does it have to account in detail for how it spends millions of dollars in donations on behalf of abused and neglected children.
The charity's largest project, a $7 million 50-acre housing complex near Houston for foster children, is being built by Bob Perry, a Texas contractor and a top GOP donor. Perry drew attention last year after providing the seed money for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the conservative group that sought to undermine Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War record during his presidential campaign.