AUSTIN (AP) -- State Rep. Tom Craddick and a Republican political committee shared extensive phone calls, fundraisers, campaign checks and mutual promotion while the Midland lawmaker was vying to become House speaker, civil court records shows.

Those details were reported Wednesday, based on records examined by The Dallas Morning News.

State law bans outside influence in races for speaker. Craddick's attorney said the activities were not illegal.

A Travis County grand jury is looking into whether Craddick received an illegal boost from the political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, when he sought the leadership post in 2002.

Three people and eight corporations have been indicted, and the case has drawn national attention because of ties between TRMPAC and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Documents filed in a separate civil court case show that TRMPAC helped Craddick ingratiate himself to GOP colleagues by sending him TRMPAC campaign checks to deliver. In all, 25 checks to Republican House candidates worth $177,000 were routed through Craddick.

E-mails, phone records and depositions show the political committee shared its campaign intelligence on key races with Craddick and set up a Washington breakfast for him to meet large corporate donors.

A political committee official kept tabs on whether potential Republican House candidates would support Craddick for speaker, documents show, and committee officials invited Craddick to come along on appointments to solicit donors.

Several corporate checks made out to TRMPAC had cover letters sent in care of Craddick, even though he has said that he was not connected to the committee. In at least one case, Craddick wrote a personal thank-you note for a contribution to the committee.

Roy Minton, a criminal defense attorney hired by Craddick, said the activities amount to a list of political gatherings and goal-sharing, and "doesn't even get started touching" on anything illegal.

"I've been watching Texas politics for a long time, and I've never seen it any different than what it was in these elections," Minton said.

The full House elects a speaker from its membership every two years. Groups are prohibited from contributing virtually anything of value to a speaker's candidate, who must visit, cajole and persuade at least 75 colleagues to support him or her for the post. I

n 2002, Republicans took over the Texas House for the first time in 130 years and propelled Craddick to the speaker's chair.

Minton said his client is a politician, and meeting with contributors, trading political information and helping raise money are what the good ones do.

"You show me a politician who says, 'No, I don't think I'll go to a meeting where there'll be a lot of people who are effective getting votes and contributing money,' and I'll show you a dead one," Minton said.

In the last three years, TRMPAC tactics, especially the use of more than $600,000 in corporate money to fuel polls, phone banks and fundraisers, have spawned two lawsuits and the criminal inquiry.

An attorney for the committee said it was no secret the group's goal was to elect a Republican majority in the House.

"And I think they assumed the beneficiary of that would be Craddick, although there were other suitors for the position," said Terry Scarborough, an attorney who has been handling civil suits filed against TRMPAC.