WASHINGTON – Fundraisers for a political committee founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay routinely solicited donations by identifying legislative actions that prospective givers wanted, from video gambling to lawsuit limits, memos show.

“What companies that you know of would be interested in tort reform in Texas with asbestos problems that might support Trmpac?” one DeLay fund-raiser wrote in a memo prospecting for donors to the Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, Trmpac.

That memo elicited an answer identifying several large companies and interest groups nationwide interested in lawsuit-limiting legislation in Congress and Texas, the documents show.

The fund-raisers also discussed using Mr. DeLay himself to make calls to round up some of the bigger donations, and referred to at least two checks that were collected and delivered directly to the House majority leader.

“Create a top 10 list of givers and let me call them to ask for large contribution,” a fund-raiser for Mr. DeLay, Warren RoBold, wrote in August 2002. “I would then decide from response who Tom DeLay others should call.”

Other Trmpac fund-raising memos mention that Texas racetrack owners needed state permission for video gambling, that banks wanted new Texas home-lending rules and that energy firms wanted less regulation.

Federal law and congressional ethics rules prohibit government officials from connecting political donations to their official actions. Mr. DeLay was admonished last year by the House’s ethics committee for creating the appearance of connecting energy industry donations with federal legislation.

Mr. DeLay’s spokesman Dan Allen said yesterday, “These memos already have been covered in the press and the conclusions being reached are speculative and unsubstantiated. The contention being pushed is unfairly vague.”

Mr. DeLay has said that while he founded the Texas political action committee and advised it, he is not involved in its day-to-day operations. A Democratic Texas prosecutor has indicted three former DeLay aides on charges related to Trmpac’s receipt and use of corporate contributions.

The documents were made public through a civil lawsuit and by the House ethics committee. They provide a window into how Mr. DeLay’s Texas group studied policy and legislative issues as it targeted possible donors.

In 2002, a fund-raiser’s handwritten note appears alongside the name of a Texas racetrack owner who – along with other state track operators – wanted state permission to begin offering video gambling at the tracks.

“Brings $1 billion. Polls 83% in favor,” the fund-raiser’s note said. Weeks after that visit to the company’s chief executive, track owner Maxxam Incorporated contributed $5,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority.