From Mercury News
By Todd J. Gilllman and Allen Pusey

The lobbying scandal that has rocked Washington moved further into Rep. Tom DeLay’s inner circle on Friday, when a former deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to conspiring with two other DeLay confidantes.

Former aide Tony Rudy’s confession did not implicate DeLay. But legal analysts said it could lead to new questions in a corruption investigation that already extracted a huge political price.

DeLay lawyer Richard Cullen said the congressman was unaware of any wrongdoing by Rudy, is confident he will be vindicated and is “bitterly disappointed” that a trusted adviser turned out to be corrupt.

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