Group Seeks Probe of Freddie Lobbyist

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, has asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate alleged violations of campaign finance laws by Freddie Mac's top lobbyist and a Republican fund-raising firm, although the complaint does not accuse Freddie Mac, as a corporate entity, of such violations.According to the complaint, during the 2002 election cycle, Mr. Delk hosted 45 fund-raising events for federal officeholders and candidates, many with direct oversight over Freddie Mac. A statement released by Public Citizen says Mr. Delk paid "significantly discounted prices" for the fund-raising events, "the low balling of which kept Delk's total contributions within federal limits." Mr. Delk used Epiphany Productions of Virginia, a Republican fund-raising firm, to organize the events. A Freddie spokeswoman said Mr. Delk hosted the events "as a private citizen, not on the behalf of our company." She added that Freddie Mac does not feel he violated any campaign finance laws in regard to the fund-raisers. As of MortgageWire's deadline Friday, neither Mr. Delk's attorney, Jan Baran, nor Epiphany could be reached for comment.