posted on September 28, 2005 10:20:42 AM
DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe
Updated 1:03 PM ET September 28, 2005
By LARRY MARGASAK
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.
DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.
"I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today," DeLay said.
GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California step into those duties. Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation.
The charge carries a potential two-year sentence, which forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.
"The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code," says the four-page indictment. "The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election."
The indictment against the second-ranking, and most assertive Republican leader came on the final day of the grand jury's term. It followed earlier indictments of a state political action committee founded by DeLay and three of his political associates.
The grand jury action is expected to have immediate consequences in the House, where DeLay is largely responsible for winning passage of the Republican legislative program. House Republican Party rules require leaders who are indicted to temporarily step aside from their leadership posts.
However, DeLay retains his seat representing Texas' 22nd congressional district, suburbs southwest of Houston.
DeLay has denied committing any crime and accused the Democratic district attorney leading the investigation, Ronnie Earle, of pursuing the case for political motives.
Democrats have kept up a crescendo of criticism of DeLay's ethics, citing three times last year that the House ethics committee admonished DeLay for his conduct.
Earlier, DeLay attorney Bill White told reporters, "It's a skunky indictment if they have one."
As a sign of loyalty to DeLay after the grand jury returned indictments against three of his associates, House Republicans last November repealed a rule requiring any of their leaders to step aside if indicted. The rule was reinstituted in January after lawmakers returned to Washington from the holidays fearing the repeal might create a backlash from voters.
DeLay, 58, also is the center of an ethics swirl in Washington. The 11-term congressman was admonished last year by the House ethics committee on three separate issues and is the center of a political storm this year over lobbyists paying his and other lawmakers' tabs for expensive travel abroad.
Wednesday's indictment stems from a plan DeLay helped set in motion in 2001 to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction.
A state political action committee he created, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted earlier this month on charges of accepting corporate contributions for use in state legislative races. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used to advocate the election or defeat of candidates; it is allowed only for administrative expenses.
With GOP control of the Texas legislature, DeLay then engineered a redistricting plan that enabled the GOP take six Texas seats in the U.S. House away from Democrats _ including one lawmaker switching parties _ in 2004 and build its majority in Congress.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on September 28, 2005 12:11:33 PM
Yes, the trees have been shaking in the wind, and we are just now getting to see the fascist neocons falling from it. This will only be the beginning of the "con"servative downward spiral. Yesterday it was Mike Brown purgering himself, and next up will be Rove.
As I have said, you can cry "our guy won" all you want, it isn't who wins the election, but rather what the president does while he is in office. This Administration has come to a screeching halt and over the remaining 3 years it will be riddled with indictments, hearings, and so on... America is finally waking up to these crooks and murderers.
posted on September 28, 2005 03:03:34 PM
mingotree and rusty,
Did I hear that several other CON-servative republicans have also been indicted in the same case along with Delay?
Before the CON-servatives on this board start saying its a political thing. I also understand the D.A. that indicted Delay has also indicted several Democrats in other cases.
SO FAR I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE CON-SERVATIVE LAW MAKER SAY THE TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH SHOULD BE CUT BACK TO HELP PAY FOR HURRICANE DAMAGE.
posted on September 28, 2005 03:09:25 PM
By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 22, 2004; Page A01
AUSTIN, Sept. 21 -- Three top political aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) were indicted Tuesday on charges of illegally raising political funds from corporations in 2002, much of which was funneled into the Republican takeover of the Texas legislature.
Corporate contributions to state legislative candidates are illegal in Texas. A Travis County grand jury indicted DeLay political aide Jim Ellis, fundraiser Warren RoBold and John Colyandro, the executive director of DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, known as TRMPAC. Eight corporations also were indicted for illegal political contributions.
SO FAR I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE CON-SERVATIVE LAW MAKER SAY THE TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH SHOULD BE CUT BACK TO HELP PAY FOR HURRICANE DAMAGE.
posted on September 28, 2005 03:32:51 PM
In the eyes of the neo-convicts and their followers they can do no wrong. They are more concerned about their fascist agenda, than American people. They truly hate America, and to cover up their hate, they claim those who see through their hate as the ones who are anti-American.
They are hypocrites and will always be hypocrites. Case in point... welfare. They think there shouldn't be social programs for the poor, yet you never hear a neocon cry about corporate welfare, or cry when the President pushes gov't money to "faith" based organizations.
Neocons continue to be anti-American through their policies and actions.
posted on September 28, 2005 03:49:08 PM
Corporate Welfare is a myth something the left has tried to shove down people's throats for years. Riles them that people won't listen.
Actual welfare where people stand with their hands out generation after generation is not.
Ask the average hard working joe his thoughts on welfare.
Welfare was meant to get people back on their feet, not a way of life.
I firmly believe they should be benefits like unemployment. 2-3 years max and you can't apply again for at least 5-10 years.
posted on September 28, 2005 06:30:53 PM
Anyone with any common sense (which exempts you demonrats) knows that any decent district attorney could get a ham sandwich indited by a grand jury.
And it's not like the demoncratic DA couldn't have had a political grudge against Delay.
Proving the case in court is a different matter.
I gave my liberal neighbors son a book for his birthday. He went crazy trying to find where to put the batteries.
posted on September 28, 2005 07:52:08 PM
This demomoron is only bringing this (Only one) charge against Delay to turn the attention away from the ineffective leadership of the local Demomorons in the area. One charge. Oh boy, that must have been tough. There isn't a person on earth immune from a over zealous Attorney General finding a reason something to bring ONE CHARGE against them. It is pretty clear this is a total political snow job. Funny how I said a Demomoron event is a snow job and not a blow.....
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Alive in 2005
posted on September 28, 2005 08:14:38 PM
This is the new neocon spin--that the prosecutor, being a Democrat, "has it in" for Delay.
Of course, what these spinmasters fail to divulge is that of the 15 elected officials that Ron Earle has prosecuted over the years four-fifths have been Democrats.
Oh My God! One-fifth have been Republicans?!? Can't you all see that the man is going after Republicans like a pit bull? It's clear he has a political agenda, folks...
____________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush
posted on September 28, 2005 09:15:26 PM
wow, you neoconvicts fall right in step. nothing new for a bunch of lemmings. just keep drinking the kool aid... the poison is slowly working.
The Texas DA pitted against the power of Tom DeLay
By Kris Axtman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
HOUSTON – Justice of the Peace Guy Herman was sitting in his office one day when a prosecutor walked in to file charges for improper campaign-finance reporting. Against himself.
The man was Ronnie Earle, the Travis County district attorney, bringing a self-incriminating complaint for tardy reporting in 1981 and 1982.
"He had missed the deadline by a day," says Mr. Herman, now a Travis County probate judge. "He could have filed that report late and nobody would have paid any attention. But instead he came in and said, 'I violated the law and should be fined.' So I fined him."
$212 to be exact.
Herman says it offered his first glimpse into how seriously Mr. Earle takes the integrity of the political system. It would not be his last.
Because the Texas Attorney General's office does not have the authority to prosecute those suspected of committing crimes in their dealings with the state, the responsibility falls on Earle and his band of prosecutors in Travis County, home of the state capital.
It is a responsibility he has embraced, prosecuting 15 high-profile cases against Republican and Democratic politicians during his 27 years in office. Many have drawn sharp criticism from both parties.
Yet no case has been more important, or controversial, than the one Earle is now pursuing against a political action committee tied to House majority leader Tom DeLay (R) - one of the nation's most powerful politicians.
To Earle partisans, it's an example of his fearlessness in pursuing political malfeasance, a trait they say makes him the state's, and perhaps the country's, top ethics cop. But detractors see the investigation as a witch hunt, another case of the silver-thatched prosecutor acting out of political motivation and for personal gain.
Mr. DeLay calls the Democratic Earle "vindictive and partisan." So far, three of DeLay's associates have been indicted on charges of illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of corporate dollars to state GOP candidates in 2002. The Republican sweep that year fueled redistricting efforts in Texas that deepened Congressional control in 2004.
Preparing for the possibility that DeLay might be charged, Republicans in Congress recently voted to change their rule requiring an indicted leader to relinquish his post.
For his part, Earle says the attacks are no different from those by the 15 other politicians he's prosecuted in almost three decades as Travis County DA. All have accused him of being politically motivated. "What else are they going to say?" he asks.
A fourth grand jury is convening in Austin, in the case Earle calls the most important of his career. "I take very seriously the prohibition against corporate and labor union money polluting the electoral process. It is a hallowed inheritance from our Texas forbearers and is central to the protection of democracy."
Indeed, to those who know him, Earle has always exhibited a strong moral streak - from his formative years growing up in a small town outside Fort Worth, to his time on the Austin night court, to his political service in the state legislature. But they contend his morality is tempered by his compassion.
"Ronnie is very principled and will do the right thing even if it isn't the smartest political thing to do," says Ellen Halbert, a victim's rights advocate who first met Earle when he was prosecuting the man who raped, beat, and stabbed her in 1986. "But he is also very sensitive. He can get emotional about a sunrise or a sunset - and I have seen him do that."
Earle was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Birdville, Texas, where pronouncing all the town's consonants got you beaten up. He was an Eagle Scout, earned money life-guarding, played football, and was president of the student council.
"Ronnie is the beneficiary of a well-grounded childhood in small-town Texas, and he came up in a more innocent time, both culturally and politically," says Ken Oden, a former Travis County Attorney now in private practice. "And I think his early years have made him a better prosecutor."
Earle enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in 1960 with an eye on journalism, but struggled with typing because his fingers had been twisted in a football injury. His professors told him C's in journalism were not good enough, so he went to law school.
After graduating, he worked in Gov. John Connally's office before becoming an Austin municipal court judge. Drunks, prostitutes, and petty criminals were the usual night-court fare, and Earle says he learned a lot from both police officers and those they arrested. "It imprinted on my soul the fact that the courts are for the people," he says in an amiable Texas drawl.
Indeed, many describe Earle as a populist. "He really believes that the people govern," says David Anderson, a UT law professor and longtime acquaintance. "He's suspicious of corporate power in all its forms. I don't think he's irrational about it, but ... he's vigilant and zealous about maintaining the individual's power in the political system."
After a brief stint with the Texas Judicial Council, Earle won a seat in the House of Representatives in a 1973 special election. He served 3-1/2 years before District Attorney Bob Smith retired and Earle threw his name in.
Many were surprised, says Bill Allison, a lawyer who sometimes hitched a ride to work with Earle when he was a municipal-court judge. "Ronnie was not a trial lawyer. But he campaigned on the promise that he was going to leave the lawyers alone and run the office, and Austin was ready for that change."
Unlike most states, Texas does not give its attorney general the power to prosecute criminal acts at the state level. That task goes to the Travis County district attorney - a responsibility Earle took on, forming a public-integrity unit to look into such abuses.
Over the years, there have been bills to defund the controversial unit and to transfer its power to the attorney general's office. But the unit has persisted and Earle has prosecuted 12 Democrats and three Republicans - most of them successfully.
There have been some notable missteps, though, the biggest in 1994 when he went after GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for allegedly misusing state telephones for political business. At a pretrial hearing, the judge questioned the admissibility of the prosecution's evidence and Earle declined to present a case. That led to Senator Hutchison's acquittal, and many saw the DA as an amateur.
"He should have gone ahead and tried the case," says Mr. Allison. "Instead, he dumped it in the grease. And it didn't have anything to do with politics; it had to do with his inexperience." The case still perturbs many in the GOP.
Democrats, for their part, are still upset over the prosecution of Attorney General Jim Mattox for bribery in 1985. While pushing a state lawsuit against Mobil Oil Co., the Democratic AG argued with Mobil's lawyers, which led to his indictment.
He was acquitted and years later, Jim Marston, a civil lawyer in Austin and friend of Mr. Mattox, asked Earle why he went ahead with the questionable case.
"I said, 'Ronnie, how can it be an abuse of power to threaten a lawyer? We threaten each other all the time.' He told me that elected officials are held to a higher standard. They are supposed to be [above suspicion] like Caesar's wife." It was then that Mr. Marston realized how deep Earle's principles run. "Ronnie Earle is a Boy Scout who is offended by wrongdoings, chief among them, public officials' abuse of power."
References to classic literature are common with Earle, a self-described voracious reader who favors philosophy, religion, and psychology in his spare time. He and his wife, Twila, have been recognized for efforts to strengthen family and build community.
"For Ronnie, it's not just 'Can we put someone in jail?' It's 'Can we prevent crime?' " says Mr. Oden. "That might make him a limp-wristed sissy-boy prosecutor to some. But make no mistake about it, those who rape, rob, and murder get no safe passage in his county."
While Travis County has the fewest inmates per capita on Texas' death row, few accuse Earle of being soft on crime.
He was roundly criticized for his 1996 prosecution of 11-year-old Lacresha Murray, who became the youngest person in Texas to be charged with capital murder. The girl was twice convicted of beating a 2-year-old in her care, but both decisions were overturned.
Deliberate in the capital cases he sends to juries, Earle is well known for examining an issue from all angles before acting.
"If I have any complaint about Ronnie, it's that he is overly cautious about who he prosecutes," says Marston. "The fact that it has taken two years to investigate Tom DeLay is a sign not of partisanship, but of being completely careful."
But don't be fooled, adds Allison: Earle is "a politician and if a politician is not watching his or her backside, they are not going to be around for long." Still, he says with respect to a possible indictment of DeLay, "Ronnie is not going to prosecute a lousy case."
____________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush
posted on September 28, 2005 09:54:13 PMThere isn't a person on earth immune from a over zealous Attorney General finding a reason something to bring ONE CHARGE against them.
Oh, cry with pity for Delay! One lousy, stinking charge. Why they should at least let him do 5 or 6 or 10 things illegal before bringing charges against the poor man! He was in such a rush to do it, too...
And it was such a piddly charge at that:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/national/11earle.html?ex=1128139200&en=c1323c56f749cc68&ei=5070
...The Travis County case, which Mr. Earle calls the most important of his career, involves corporate contributions that he says were used to illegally shape Texas politics. "I honestly think the future of democracy is at stake," he said in an interview in his unadorned office near the Capitol.
On Sept. 21, after nearly two years of investigation, the latest of three successive grand juries indicted three top fund-raisers and eight corporate givers for contributions to the political action committee of Texans for a Republican Majority, a group that is linked to Mr. DeLay, of the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, and Tom Craddick of Midland, a fellow Republican who is speaker of the Texas House. The charge is funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit corporate money to Republican statehouse candidates in 2002.
The candidates' victories set off a redistricting effort to solidify Republican control of Congress in 2004. "Clearly corporate money was used in political campaigns, and that's against the law," Mr. Earle said.
The Texas Association of Business, another group involved in the inquiry, boasted in a 2002 newsletter that it "blew the doors off the Nov. 5 general election using an unprecedented show of muscle that featured political contributions and a massive voter education drive."
Mr. Earle said, "Nobody can just violate Texas law, brag about it and then get away with it."
To no one's surprise, his inquiry has plunged Mr. Earle into the kind of politically charged melee that has marked much of his career.
Mr. DeLay, who along with Mr. Craddick and the defendants have denied wrongdoing and denounced the charges as election-inspired, called Mr. Earle a "runaway district attorney" with "a long history of being vindictive and partisan," to which Mr. Earle retorted, "Being called vindictive and partisan by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog."
"The only people I antagonize more than Republicans are Democrats," Mr. Earle said later. He said the record showed he had prosecuted 12 Democratic officials and 4 Republican officials, although for much of his time in office, he acknowledged, Republicans were on the outs. "We prosecute abuses of power," he said, "and you have to have power to abuse it."
With a fourth grand jury taking up the investigation in October, Mr. Earle declined to say whether it was headed to Mr. DeLay. "It goes where it's going," he said. "Anybody who's committed a crime is a target."
[Mr. DeLay is already under attack in Washington, where the House ethics panel admonished him twice in a week. On Sept. 30 he was rebuked for trying to trade a favor for a congressman's vote on a health care bill. On Oct. 6 he was scolded for engaging in fund-raising activities that created the appearance of impropriety and for using his position to exert influence over a federal agency for political gain.]
Poor, poor Tom Delay...
edited to fix UBB
____________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush
[ edited by bunnicula on Sep 28, 2005 09:55 PM ]
posted on September 28, 2005 10:16:29 PM
Ron seems to be drinking the high octane kool aid. No such thing as corporate welfare??? Come on now... Record profits seem to coincide with record corporate freebies. But being a "con"servative, I can understand how you would just turn the other way. It is in your nature to be a hypocrite.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush
posted on September 29, 2005 05:46:32 AM
Ralph Nader coined the term, you can't get much left than that.
So who is drinking the koolaid rusty and bunni?
That man hates anyone who makes money. I am no hypocrite, never once have I said I was against corporations getting tax breaks and anything else they needed to make money and create jobs and income.
But as I see neither of you can defend social welfare, that is a step in the right direction.
posted on September 29, 2005 07:19:42 AM
Ron says, "I am no hypocrite, never once have I said I was against corporations getting tax breaks and anything else they needed to make money and create jobs and income."
All from a guy in his own words said he pays his truck driver 1/2 the average pay for driving in his area.
Hey Ron us hard working guys and gals are coming after your kind. You greedy CON-servative better pucker-up.
SO FAR I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE CON-SERVATIVE LAW MAKER SAY THE TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH SHOULD BE CUT BACK TO HELP PAY FOR HURRICANE DAMAGE.
posted on September 29, 2005 08:06:14 AMSO FAR I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE CON-SERVATIVE LAW MAKER SAY THE TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH SHOULD BE CUT BACK TO HELP PAY FOR HURRICANE DAMAGE.
peepa...and youre not moving until you do, right? So ya think maybe youre gonna guilt them into it? hahaha...good luck charley horse!
posted on September 29, 2005 06:27:57 PM
Hey Ron,
What is shameful is guys like you not paying a living wage.
A rich CON-servative says "I've got".
A rich Liberal says "I've got so I can give".
Hey Defogger, my words below just show the CON-servative Law Makers mind set. CON-servative Law Makers are talking about all kinds of cuts except cutting tax breaks for the rich.
Your CON-servative Law makers are unable to feel "GUILT".
SO FAR I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE CON-SERVATIVE LAW MAKER SAY THE TAX BREAKS TO THE RICH SHOULD BE CUT BACK TO HELP PAY FOR HURRICANE DAMAGE.
posted on September 29, 2005 07:31:59 PM
peepa, how can someone your age be so ignorant about wages? You still haven't learned the difference wages there are.
If someone in my area were getting paid like you said, that would be less than min wage.
I've got, you got that right. Let those who want get off their asses and get work to get.
