Four companies charged with making illegal donations to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's fund-raising committee have been told by Texas officials to write checks to the University of Texas at Austin to have their charges dismissed.

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Author: Fischer, Karin

The university's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs will get the $200,000 windfall. Its interim dean, Bobby R. Inman, says the funds will be used to establish a program studying the impact of money on politics, including the role of corporations in political campaigns.

Given the spirit in which the donation was given, "a focus on money and politics seems appropriate," says Mr. Inman, a retired admiral who was director of the National Security Agency under President Reagan.

The four companies are Sears, Roebuck & Company; Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., a restaurant chain; Questerra Corporation, a computer-software provider; and Diversified Collection Services Inc., a debt-collection contractor. They settled with state officials investigating whether Mr. DeLay violated campaign finance law by channeling illegal corporate donations to Republican candidates for the State House of Representatives.

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By Karin Fischer