You’ve likely heard by now that a Texas grand jury has indicted Rep Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for a campaign finance scheme, and that DeLay has temporarily stepped down has House majority leader. I’m leery of the GOP response that the indictment is “prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat.” DeLay can be ethically challenged, and was cited three times last year by the House ethics committee. But DeLay is savvy and, no doubt, has good attorneys advising him of how far he can go before crossing the legal line. So I’ll be surprised if The Hammer gets nailed on this.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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46 Comments
Phillip
I’ve you’ve read just a small portion of the shenanigans Ronnie Earle has pulled you wouldnt be ‘leary of the GOP response that this is “prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat”‘.
Earles bizzare antics are well documented and the fact that he’s still in office is testament to the fact that Texas Democrats have no ethical standards.
Fillup,If you are really leery of “prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat” then you shouldn’t even be employed as a cub reporter.
Spin Heckler, Spin!
SO hilarious (and even more predictable) to see the Wingnut machine revving up to discredit Ronnie Earle.
Heckler’s attempt to sound authoritative (’move along! nothin’ to see here!’) while spinning Earle’s record works pretty well except for one thing: it provides ZERO specifics. ‘Well documented’ where, Heckler? Do share your wisdom.
In his prosecutorial career, Earle has prosecuted 15 public officials: 11 were DEMOCRATS, and 4 were REPUBLICANS. He has spent 27 years as the head of the Texas Public Integrity Unit. And he’s an elected official. If his record were anything like what Heckler accuses him of, he’d have been out of there long, long ago.
If Heckler is going to cite the prosecution of Kay Bailey Hutchinson as evidence of Earle’s hackery or incompetence, it’s worth noting that it was thrown out of court because Earle issued a search warrant for documents rather than issuing a subpeona. Big whoop. That’s not what I’d call grounds for claiming that Earle is a ‘renegade,’ or exculpatory for Hutchinson. But of course, because Heckler hides behind generalizations and has no specifics to offer, no argument needs to be made.
The best part, though, is that Earle is every bit as tough as De Lay is crooked.
“DeLay on Tuesday accused Earle of conducting a political investigation. DeLay said Earle is “vindictive and partisan.”
Earle said being called that by DeLay was like being “called ugly by a frog.”
Ha ha ha! No wonder Heckler is reduced to making baseless accusations and innuendoes. He’s got nothin’. Ronnie Earle, on the other hand, DEFINITELY has De Lay’s number.
Finally, Heckler, as for who has ‘no ethical standards,’ you may want to remember that it was De Lay who was admonished repeatedly by the House Ethics Committee, a committee run by Republicans.
So, Heckler,quit bluffing: produce some real evidence for your assertions, rather than just saying ‘they say…’ and ‘everybody knows…’ Let’s see what you got.
Michelle Malkin’s blog has a boatload of stuff on this.http://www.michellemalkin.com/Here’s a tast.
·”The Travis County, Texas, prosecutor investigating Mr. DeLay has a history of using his office for partisan ends.”(Congressional prerogative, The Washington Times, November 19, 2004)
(Self-inflicted wound; District attorney’s poor judgment in speaking at a Democratic fund-raiser provides an unintended boost for DeLay’s defenders., The Houston Chronicle, May 20, 2005)
Ronnie Earle’s three year political vendetta against Rep. DeLay has been marked by:
Illegal grand jury leaks,A fundraising speech by Earle for the Texas Democrat party that inappropriately focused on the investigation,Misuse of his office for partisan purposes, andExtortion of money for Earle’s pet projects from corporations in exchange for dismissing indictments he brought against them.
CF
I can bring more if you want it.
This from Mark Levin.
Here’s my first take on this indictment (I’ve only read the indictment and nothing more for now): The indictment is three pages in length. Other than a statement that “one or more” of 3 individuals, including Tom DeLay, entered into an illegal conspiracy, I can’t find a single sentence tying Tom DeLay to a crime. That is, there’s not a single sentence tying DeLay to the contribution. The indictment describes the alleged conduct of two other individuals, but nothing about DeLay. You would think if Ronnie Earle had even a thin reed of testimony linking DeLay to the contribution, it would have been noted in the indictment to justify the grand jury’s action. Moreover, not only is there no information about DeLay committing acts in furtherance of a conspiracy, there’s no information about DeLay entering into a conspiracy. I honestly believe that unless there’s more, this is an egregious abuse of prosecutorial power. It’s a disgrace. I understand that not everything has to be contained in an indictment, but how about something!
Why anybody would defend DeLay is beyond rational comprehension.
Ha! Earle partisan? Check out a Houstan Chronicle article from March 17, 2003 entitled “Earle prosecutes Democrats and Republicans alike”http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=571&pf=1
Or, look at the Austin American Statesman’s list of politicians that Earle has prosecuted.http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:0rQBlgcHhFwJ:www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/09/22EARLERECORD.html+%22Past+prosecutions+by+Ronnie+Earle%22&hl=en&client=safari
Anyone who claims Earle goes on partisan witch-hunts against republicans is at best ignorant or at worst a liar.
Thanks, Nate and CF–
Don’t forget, the indictment was brought by THE GRAND JURY, not Earle.
Texas campaign laws are so lax, that one has to be a true sleaze-ball to violate them.
Don’t mess with Texas, it makes enough messes all on its own . . .
And remember the outraged howls from the neo-cons when Howard Dean said that DeLay should be in jail.
Do you think they’ll apologize if he is thrown in jail?
Delete DeLay
IT’S TRUE!Everything’s bigger in Texas.
well it’s about time! DeLay has taken sleaze to a whole new level. But we need to keep in mind that he’s just one of a pack of jackals in the republican party (Cunningham, Ney, Rove, et al). Wouldn’t it be great if this is just the beginning of a general house cleaning?The republicans will try their best to smear Earle, but this guy is a tough cookie. I say more power to him!
*sigh*….this is news? A politician was found to be a crook? Say it ain’t so…
Old saying from Louisiana…that voters in Louisiana do not tolerate political corruption, they demand it.
Old joke, but seems to apply in other states as well. Delay is entitled to a trial and all that, you know, innocent until proven guilty, but appears to be a total sleaze. Hang him high….
Galahad,
I made the point about the Grand Jury indictment on another thread, but thanks for bringing it up here again.
Heckler,
If you’re going to provide authoritative links that I’m supposed to take seriously, you should avoid The Rev. Sun Young Moon’s personal newspaper, The Washington Times.
Among the accusations you’ve garnered, the only one that merits comment is that concerning Earle’s supposed ‘extortion’ of corporations (notably Sears) as reported by Captain’s Quarters and the NRO.
Sears, in particular, claims that it had done no wrong, had a defensible case, and wasn’t interested in settling. The NRO story then claims that Earle approached them, claimed the prosecution wasn’t as serious as it appeared, and offered to settle.
Here’s where I don’t buy Sears’ story in the NRO account at all. If the companies believe they weren’t doing wrong in contributing to TRMPAC, they didn’t have to settle. This is particularly true since the fine would have cost only $20,000, whereas Earle started by asking for $1 million, which then became $100,000. If you didn’t think you did anything wrong, why would you settle for $100,000 rather than go to court to protect your good name, and pay a maximum fine of $20,000? The account of the Sears insiders makes no sense. Moreover, the opinion of DiGenova, the uber-partisan hack of all partisan hacks, doesn’t count for anything.
So, bottom line: a corporation felt ‘extorted’ when it was punished for trying to make illegal campaign contributions? Well, boo-hoo-f******-hoo. Seems to me Earle used his power in EXACTLY the right way to buy back some power for an informed electorate in the political process.
Oh, and Michelle Malkin is a filthy whore. I won’t sully my browser by linking to her ’site’.
OT
Ray Thomas,
Your mention of Louisiana politics made me think of my favorite quote from Edwin Edwards, former governor. He bragged that the only way he could lose an election was if ‘I was found in bed with a live boy or a dead girl.’
He is, of course, currently serving a ten-year Federal prison sentence on corruption charges. And I would be remiss to deny that he is, of course, a Louisiana Democrat.
And two more things–
What really matters here is the funding/influence peddling network of which Delay is but one part. The power nexus of the modern GOP (Delay/Abramoff/Norquist/Rove/K Street project) has been in bed with big oil and big capital for a long, long time. The culture of corruption they’ve fostered is exceeded only by the government incompetence and malfeasance they’ve wrought, as demonstrated in the unnecessary Katrina disaster and the profiteering now taking place in the ‘rebuilding.’ Their ‘anti-government’ rhetoric only lasted as long as they were out of power. Once in power, the government has been theirs and their cronies to plunder. So while I will admit to finding it deeply satisfying to see Delay out of the leadership, he’s just one cog in a vast, corrupt, anti-democratic machine that needs to be taken down and rooted out so our government can begin to function for voters rather than influence-buying corporations.
Finally, the late-afternoon power struggle between closeted gay dude Rep. David Drier and Rep. Roy Blunt has been pretty funny to watch. I wonder how Grand Ayatollah Dobson felt knowing that a Sponge Bob Square-Pantser was going to be running the GOP show in the House. It appears to have stuck in his craw, you might say.
O.K. I’m done. It has been a DELICIOUS day.
Oh, and if this post is too ‘long’ for some of you? Kish mer an tuchas.
Translation: you may kiss my Jewish ass.
I hope they prosecute DeLay. That guy is a bad person and needs to be kicked out of Congress or lose his re-election (doubt it), but he has been walking the grey line for many years and there is so much bad stuff on him, that you know he is a man who thinks he is about the law.
DeLay must go. It would be the best thing that ever happened to Congress since the Republicans took it over in 1994.
He’s prolife when comes other people, but not his own father very confusing
Two statements, one from a congressman and one from a small time burgler:
“Pay me not to steal and I will quit doing crime”
“The reason so many of us are caught doing illegal and unethical acts is that we are not receiving enough pay”
Which one is which?Does it really make a difference?
Nobody gives a crap about Earl or whatever his name is, because he ain’t the Senate Majority Leader.People with two first names really wierd me out. Ron Earle? Why not Fred Joe, or Sally Betty?Come to think of it, I actually know a guy named Billy Jack! Bud Wiser and Milo Bean used to both live here but they’ve passed away.
You can indict a ham sandwich in this country. DeLay walks. Book it.
DeLay may well walk. This is after all the most corrupt administration in history. Tomorrow bush will try to make it even more so with another neo-con pick for the Supreme Court.
But as bush is in a great deal of trouble, DeLay may well serve as a sacrificial lamb.
Oh a little aside here; the comments of Mark Levin posted by heckler are lifted DIRECTLY from a stint by Levin on the Sean Hannity show today. More evidence of the irrelevance of hecklers posts.
Let’s review:Ken LayNo WMDSunpopular unending warRepublican speaker of the house DeLay indicted.Republican leader of the Senate under investigation for insider trading.bush Brain Karl Rove under investigation pending indictments up to and including treason.
I miss anything?
The GOP is gonna be shoved back into it’s little corner where it so rightfully belongs.
This will be a day long remembered. We are seeing the end of DeLay, we will soon see the impeachment of bush!
Jimmy,DeLay may walk, but if he does, you can bet it will have nothing to do with guilt or innocence, and everything to do with power.From what I heard of the lawyer’s statements, There’s little dispute over the main facts. It’s all about some creative bookkeeping that DeLay must’ve picked up from Enron. It certainly wouldn’t wash for us ordinary people, but DeLay may beat it with influence.
Jr
Mark Levin, a partisan? yes. So what? The mans a brilliant lawyer as is Jay Sekulo, who is also a partisan. Both made the point that the indictment didn’t even charge Delay with violating a specific code. It provided no specifics about the charge nor evidence to support it. I’m no lawyer but Sekulow and Levin both stated that to not include the specific charge or any supporting evidence is a sign that Earle has nothing.
Let’s recap. Earle, a prosecutor,does a fundraising speech at a Democratic function and mentions his invesigation of Delay. This action alone is a serious lapse of ethics.
Earle empanels six seperate grand juries during his 3 plus year investigation and finally gets one to make an indictment, one with no specific charge, no evidence to support a specific charge.
If you think that this is not political you’re either naive or a cool-aid drinker.
Can one of you genius’s tell me what Delay is charged with? No you cant because the indictment doesn’t even spell out a charge.
Delay pushes the limits of fundraising law just as his opponents do. Our campaign finance laws suck, there’s to many back doors and side doors. I propose a simple fix. No corporate or union dollars to individual candidates. The only money a candidate can spend is from individual contributions. Raise the cap on those to $5000. The names of all contributors will be listed publicly on a weekly basis. Corporations,unions,Political parties and anyone else can run issue adds without naming candidates. They can spend all the money they want to but must list all contributions made to them publicly.
A Republican? A crook? Why, I’m mortified, I tell you! DeLay? Indicted? By a Democrat? Good God, what’s this world comming to? Where are all the decent Democrat crooks? Why arn’t they standing up for DeLay? This is mind-boggeling, to say the least.
JM
Indicted yes, but for what, that is the question.
From Ed Morissey of Captains Quarters.
As I pointed out yesterday, the Democrats used the exact same manuever in the same election cycle. The Texas Democratic Party sent $175,000 to the DNC and got $195,000 in return in three pairs of matching transactions between June 2001 and October 2002, all pairs occurring on the same date:
The only problem is that similar transactions are conducted by both parties in many states, including Texas. In fact, on October 31, 2002, the Texas Democratic Party sent the Democratic National Committee (DNC) $75,000, and on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $75,000. On July 19, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000 and, again on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000. On June 8, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000. That very same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000. If what Earle alleges that DeLay did amounts to money-laundering — which Earle charged the other conspirators with committing, but not DeLay — then why not the Democrats as well? If in fact both violate Texas law, then both groups should face prosecution. Did Earle present that to the grand jury, or did he just limit it to DeLay and the GOP? Earle’s use of this case as a stump speech for Democratic Party fundraising this past May indicates that he had little motivation for equal application of the law — which gives the understandable impression that Earle acted out of political malice and not a desire to see justice done.
Heckler,
Regarding your modest proposal of no corporate or labor dollars for campaigns: no duh. That’s precisely the Texas state law Delay is accused of subverting.
As for the ‘they all do it’ so it’s OK argument, which you go on to deny a couple of posts down, what all the rest of them don’t do is redistrict in order to lock in bought and paid for ‘majorities’. To the extent that Delays ‘fundraising’ efforts support this activity, they go well beyond simple issues of campaign malfeasance and begin to erode the legitimacy of congressional politics.
With the Ed Morrisey clip and post, if you want to make a point about it, I’ll respond.
Heckler, Delay is charged with ‘criminal conspiracy.’ And I’ll ask you a really, really, basic question: do you really think Delay didn’t intend to subvert the law of Texas, and actively participate in doing so?
Finally, is this just all a run up for the hatchet job y’all are planning when Patrick Fitzgerald announces his indictment of Karl Rove for revealing the identity of an undercover CIA operative as political payback?
So great to finally see the paddy wagon arrive on the scene. But ‘better late than never’ isn’t much comfort to the folks of New Orleans–or, for that matter, Baghdad.
CF
You have missed my repeated point.Delay is named in the indictment but just a vague statement of conspiracy is mentioned but no specific charge is made.Read the indictment. This is political and personal.
Delay probably exploited a loophole in the law but I don’t know that much about the law. I have no doubt he pushed it to the gray edges but he’s a little to smart to do something that would get him convicted.
You’re all wrong on the redistricting bit. Democrats do it every chance they get. They’ve done it in Texas in the past. I don’t have time to dig up the references right now but if you don’t believe me I can find it later.
I did the Morissey clip because he makes the point more clearly than I can. What Delay has done in Texas the Democrats have done in Texas to a similar extent. Yet Earle has speachified at fundraisers about Delay but apparently has not investigated Democrats for similar activity. That combined with the weakness of the indictment blows his credibility as a prosecutor.
Valerie Plames cover was blown by her husband and by members of the media who had personal knowledge of her past. Rove didn’t even know her name. Thats a dream that isn’t going to end up as wet as you expect it to.
CF
If I gave the impression that I support the “everybody does it” defense I’d like to state that I don’t. But apply the law equally and consistantly.
Heckler,
I agree on the need to apply law fairly and impartially.
But as for the attempt to whitewash Rove by saying he didn’t ‘know her {Valerie Plame’s} name,’ that’s why I used the word ‘identity’ rather than ‘name’. I’m a little embarrassed for you, having been caught in such a transparent semantic trap.
CF
The account that I’ve heard reported regarding Rove’s conversation with a reporter about Plame had the reporter asking Rove if he’d heard that Wilson’s wife was CIA. Rove acknowledged that he had heard that. The reporter brought it up Rove didn’t. Rove then made a report to CIA regarding the conversation, something they have to do when something that may be classified is brought up by someone who isn’t cleared to know about it.One of those security clearance things, like reporting contact with foreign nationals.
If you can point me to something authoratative that says differently I’d like to see it.
JR you forgot the gay male escort that George & Co. brought in as a phony news agency, while banning real reporters like Maureen.I’m sure there’s more, but when there’s always a new scandal who can remember all the old ones?
Heckler, I believe the charge is conspiracy. That said, much as I hate to, I’m going to agree with the conservatives on this thread. Prosecuting DeLay is a waste of time, money, adrenilan, and blood pressure. Sure, It’ll be a little embarrassing for DeLay for a week or two, but I’ll bet with Bisoni on this one…it goes nowhere.
Promises and threats will be made, money will get spread around, influence will be peddled, strings will be pulled; politics as usual. But if you think DeLay wil be convicted of anything, You’re past dreaming. You’re into some good drugs.
By election time, Joe Sixpack won’t remember who Ronnie Earle is.
XXX
You are correct, sort of. The indictment accuses him of a conspiracy. But it does not cite a specific law or code nor support the charge with evidence. It’s essentially a fishing expedition. If you listen to the MSM you keep hearing money laundering.
If DeLay has broken the rules then he needs to be punished. I sense that he found a loophole in the law. He seems to be clever enough to be unethical yet stay within the law.
If the DA brought up bogus charges for political reasons, then he needs to be held accountable for his actions.
I hope that justice will prevail, but I’m not naive.
Has there ever been a Texas politician who is NOT a crook?
Heckler? I give up on you. It goes straight out the blow hard hannity’s ass and right into your posts. But a parting shot for ya before I consign ya to permanent ignore? “Ban both union and corporate contributions, raise individual contributions to $5,0000″ Your words. And very illustrative of who and what you are . Give the workers no voice. “Appear” to make that “fair” by also limiting corporate voice (which DeLay incidentally went around) and let those with the most money have the big voice. Buh bye Heckler
I suspect Earle has a alot more than meets the surface here. He had the goods on Kay Bailey Hutchison but got burned. (Justice in Texas being something of a subjetive thing) I bet he has learned his lesson. I bet he has a lot more on Delay and many others. But of course that is what the trial is for. Boy am I looking forward to that trial.
PS Anyone know where I can see mugshots of DeLay?
JR
Did I quote Hannity on something? No. Did I say something factually incorrect? Dont think so, at least nothing you can point out. Disagree on campaign finance law? Fine, we disagree.
Go ahead and ingore me, ignorance is bliss, especially for folks who use the word Neocon.
Interesting. In the indictment, it states that Delay has waived the statute of limitations. I wonder if someone has already cut a deal in order to avoid having his associates testify under oath?
Oh, and when Ronnie Earle went after Kay Bailey Hutchinson in 1993, her consultant, one Karl Rove, hit back with a statewide smear campaign to discredit Ronnie Earle. It worked. The case was moved to a Republican District near Fort Worth, where the Judge introduced new evidence rules that were so onerous that Earle dropped the case.
Here’s the link. An interesting set of angles, methinks:
http://billmon.org/
I can’t help but wonder what Earle has on the bugman. Surely Earle realizes that if he’s brought a frivilous charge against one of the most powerful men in the country, the republicans will soon be reading fortunes from his entrails.
Either Earle has polaroids of the bugman in compromising circumstances with a goat, or he’s lost his mind.
I trust Earle. This is a good man and public servant. He once even brought charges against himself for what he thought was a personal wrongdoing. And that’s the differece between Repubicans and Democrats. Being a Republican not only never means having to say you are sorry, hell you are never wrong!
This is much ado about nothing. Several prominant Democrats have done much worse. In the end, Delay will be cleared and the Dems will have egg on their face, again.
Hey Bob it’s prominent not prominant.But you may be right about DeLay walking. Hell Ken Lay is still free in the most corrupt time in the nations history.
Uh Bob? Clinton Impeached. Trafficant in prison. California governor Davis hounded from office by a talk radio led witch hunt. I could go on. But I think I made my point. The deck is stacked against Democrats and for CONservatives.