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Tom Delay just indicted for money laundering
A Texas grand jury just indicted him on money laundering charges.Between this ,Frist, and Bush's recent plunge. If the Democrats can't make hay now I think they are deliberately dropping the ball.
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I'm ecstatic and I don't care who knows it. Take that, bitches! |
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I'm so happy that I was considering getting some wine to celebrate, but I want to be sober enough to enjoy this! |
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Also, am I losing it or did this happen last week? |
Nope Suze, this is a different charge. Yippieeeee! :blob2: Let me grab a link real quick. Thanks for the heads up BombaySapphire3!
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Texas grand jury indicts DeLay on new charge
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9583433 AUSTIN, Texas - A Texas grand jury on Monday indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on a new charge of money laundering. A different grand jury whose six-month term ended last week indicted him on a conspiracy charge, forcing DeLay to temporarily step down as House majority leader. Both indictments accuse DeLay and two political associates of conspiring to get around a state ban on corporate campaign contributions by funneling the money through the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee to the Republican National Committee in Washington. The RNC then sent back like amounts to distribute to Texas candidates in 2002, the indictment alleges. The new charge was the first action from a new Travis County grand jury, which started its term Monday. Another grand jury, which ended its term Sept. 28, handed up 41 indictments in the three-year investigation. The new indictment comes hours after DeLay's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the first case. That motion was based on the argument that the conspiracy charge against DeLay was based on a law that wasn't effective until 2003, the year after the alleged money transfers. “Since the indictment charges no offense, and since you have professed not to be politically motivated in bringing this indictment, I request that you immediately agree to dismiss the indictment so that the political consequences can be reversed,” attorney Dick DeGuerin wrote in a letter to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. The judge who will preside in DeLay's case is out of the country on vacation and couldn't rule on the motion. Other state district judges declined to rule on the motion in his place, said Colleen Davis, a law clerk to Austin attorney Bill White, also represents DeLay. No effect on the conspiracy charge? George Dix, a professor at the University of Texas law school who is an expert in criminal law and procedure, said he doesn't believe changes made to the Texas election code by the 2003 legislature have any effect on the conspiracy charge. The penal code's conspiracy charge allows for the charge if the defendants allegedly conspired to commit any felony, including an election code felony. Just because the election code was “silent” on the penal code provision until 2003, it doesn't mean it wasn't a valid charge before 2003, Dix said. “To me it just says, ‘We really mean what we said implicitly before,’” Dix said. |
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http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoti.../happy/050.gif |
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:blob2::blob2::blob1::blob1::blob2::blob2: |
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I think he is guilty. However, it will be interesting to see if this sort of maverick prosecutor can make it stick. Regardless of that, it is abundantly clear that Delay has broken the spirit of the law by using the RNC to give corp. money to candidates. But, it will likely take someone to sing on him - at least from what I can see.
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EARLE HAS PROSECUTED FOUR TIMES AS MANY DEMOCRATS AS REPUBLICANS: “Over Earle’s 27-year tenure, his Public Integrity Unit has prosecuted 15 elected officials, including 12 Democrats.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05] EARLE PROSECUTED DEMOCRATS AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF STATE GOVERNMENT: “Some of the Democrats prosecuted by Earle and his Public Integrity Unit are former Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, former State Treasurer Warren Harding and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough.” [AP, 12/12/04] EARLE AIDES WENT ON TO RUN FOR OFFICE AS REPUBLICANS: “Some of his top assistants have been with him for decades. A few have gone on to run for elected office as Republicans.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05] FRIEND OF OFFICIAL TARGETED BY EARLE CALLED HIM A ‘BOY SCOUT’: “Democrats, for their part, are still upset over the prosecution of Attorney General Jim Mattox for bribery in 1985. … 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.’ [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04] EARLE HAS REPUTATION AS PRINCIPLED, ‘OVERLY CAUTIOUS’: “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.’” [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04] EARLE HAS REPUTATION FOR ‘STRONG MORAL STREAK’: “[T]o 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.” [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04] EARLE HAS REPUTATION FOR RESPECTING THE RULES: “‘One of the things I admired most about Ronnie was his indefatigable ability to go and meet with groups all over town all the time–right-wing groups, left-wing groups, the Rotary,’ says Bill Reid, an attorney who retired from Earle’s office in 1997. ‘He’s not a bloodthirsty prosecutor who wanted to get notches on his gun. There are some who have a reputation for walking close to the line in terms of evidence and rights, but there was never a push or inclination from him that we ought to bend the rules. Working for him, I was doing what I wanted to do, and I could go home and sleep at night.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05] HOUSTON CHRONICLE: ALLEGATIONS OF PARTISANSHIP NOT SUPPORTED BY FACTS: Chronicle editorial: “The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts.” |
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411180003
Media complicit in spreading false GOP smear of district attorney investigating DeLay As justification for altering party rules in the House of Representatives in order to allow Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) to retain his leadership position if indicted by a Texas grand jury on political corruption charges, Republicans have claimed that Travis County, Texas, District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is investigating DeLay, is doing so for purely partisan reasons. This charge was dutifully echoed on FOX News Channel, and most other news outlets have reported it -- without noting that Earle has, in fact, prosecuted more Democratic politicians than Republican politicians. While Earle is an elected Democrat, as Media Matters for America has previously noted, a March 17* editorial in the Houston Chronicle commended his work: "During his long tenure, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans. The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts." This assertion supports Earle's own claim about his record; a March 6 article in the El Paso Times reported: "Earle says local prosecution is fundamental and points out that 11 of the 15 politicians he has prosecuted over the years were Democrats." Nonetheless, DeLay has accused Earle of "trying to criminalize politics and using the criminal code to insert himself into politics," while Representative Henry Bonilla (R-TX) has referred to Earle as a "partisan crackpot district attorney." FOX News Channel commentators and reporters echoed this Republican line of attack against Earle: BRIAN WILSON (FOX News Channel correspondent): "DeLay is making a not-so-veiled reference to this man, Ronnie Earle, the intensely partisan Democratic district attorney of Travis County, Texas. Under Earle's guidance, an Austin grand jury has indicted several of DeLay's associates as part of an investigation into a state political action committee." [FOX News Channel, Special Report with Brit Hume, 11/17/04] MICHAEL BARONE (FOX News Channel contributor and U.S. News and World Report senior writer): "Ordinarily I would agree with the Democrats' point of view on this. This is, you know, changing the rule, lowering the ethical standards. But the fact is what you've got here is a prosecutor -- Travis County prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, a partisan Democrat who has done some really rotten, political prosecuting. ... So this is a rotten prosecutor who -- and I think in those circumstances, it's appropriate." [FOX News Channel, Special Report with Brit Hume, 11/17/04] JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO (author and FOX News Channel senior judicial analyst): Tom DeLay's associates, people that have worked for him, and some who still do work for him, have all been indicted by a sort of renegade prosecutor in Texas, who has made it known that Tom DeLay is in his crosshairs. ... JOHN GIBSON (host): OK, but now tell me about this prosecutor. You said quasi-renegade. NAPOLITANO: I was being polite when I said quasi-renegade. The Republican leadership today called him a political crackpot. And there is a basis for calling him that. [FOX News Channel, The Big Story with John Gibson, 11/16/04] Network and cable news outlets and several major newspapers also reported the charges leveled by Republicans against Earle without noting that Earle has, in fact, prosecuted more Democratic politicians than Republican politicians: CHIP REID (NBC News correspondent): "In a display of DeLay's popularity and power within his own party, House Republicans changed the rules, allowing him to keep his position even if indicted, if Republicans determine the indictment is politically motivated. That's exactly what Republicans have already concluded about the Texas investigation, calling it a partisan witch hunt." [NBC, Nightly News, 11/17/04] BOB ORR (CBS correspondent): "Three DeLay associates have already been indicted in what he [DeLay] claims is a politically motivated prosecution." [CBS, Evening News, 11/17/04] LINDA DOUGLASS (ABC congressional correspondent): "A Democratic prosecutor in Texas has been investigating DeLay's role in changing the boundaries of the state's congressional districts. Three people connected to DeLay have already been indicted. ... DeLay says he's the target of a Democratic witchhunt." [ABC, World News Tonight, 11/17/04] JUDY WOODRUFF (CNN host): "As some House Republicans tell it, their vote today to change party rules was not just about protecting Tom DeLay. They say it was about taking power away from a Democratic prosecutor who they believe may be eager to indict their majority leader." JOE JOHNS (CNN congressional correspondent): "Fearing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay could be indicted in a grand jury investigation in Texas, rank-and-file Republicans in the House move to protect him from losing power if it happens. They see the Texas case, led by a prosecutor who is a Democrat, as politically motivated." [CNN, Inside Politics, 11/17/04] BRIT HUME (FOX News Channel host): "Tom DeLay fears, as do others, that he may be indicted by a particular prosecutor down in Texas who has indicted Republicans in Washington before. And they feel that the indictment was likely to be politically motivated." [FOX News Channel, Special Report with Brit Hume, 11/17/04] The Baltimore Sun: "DeLay said the action was necessary because of what he has called a politically motivated campaign by the prosecutor, Democrat Ronnie Earle. Earle 'is trying to criminalize politics and using the criminal code to insert himself into politics. I think that is wrong,' DeLay said. ... Republicans were concerned that Earle might indict DeLay to strip him of his leadership post even if the prosecutor never intended to pursue the charges, said DeLay's spokesman, Jonathan Grella." ["House GOP changes rule to protect DeLay," 11/18/04] San Francisco Chronicle: "Republicans charge that the Texas investigation, led by Ronnie Earle, a veteran Democratic prosecutor in Austin, is a political effort designed to embarrass DeLay. ... 'This takes the power away from any partisan crackpot district attorney who may want to indict,' Bonilla said after the vote preserving DeLay's post." ["GOP tosses ethics rule so DeLay can keep post," 11/18/04] The Dallas Morning News: "Many Republicans assert that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, is on a partisan witch-hunt." ["GOP eyeing rule to help DeLay: New law would allow leader to keep post in event of indictment," 11/17/04] * This item originally indicated that the Houston Chronicle editorial was from June 17, 2004, and linked to a website providing the full text of the editorial but another incorrect date, March 17, 2003. In fact, the editorial was written on March 17, 2004. |
He has a 91% conviction rate in jury trials, which is pretty good (remember, he choses what goes to trial) -- He has a rep for going off somewhat half cocked. For example, in his case against Kay Bailey Hutchison, he should have made sure the computer records were admissable - he did not. As a result of the D judge ruling them inadmisable, Earle has to drop the case, which damaged his credibility.
In the end and in this case, the facts clearly support the indictment(s) - so he should win this. Where he will run into trouble is the defense will likely play the patriot/Christian card. Fortunately for the prosecution, Delay is not well liked in his jurisdiction. |
Like the great Don Meredith once said, "Turn out the lights, the party's over...."
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Also, I think that was the 2002 election, which the R's won mostly because of 9/11 and the backlash against anyone who in any way questioned W's leadership a la Max Cleland, who people like Ann Coulter villified for losing three limbs in Vietnam when W was AWOL in Alabama and Cheney had better things to do than serve his country. Scary times indeed. |
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Here is a pretty good AP article setting out the time line and facts surrounding this. I fail to see how anyone can read this and not think this scum is guilty :shrug:
DeLay, Successor Blunt Swapped Donations Wednesday, October 05, 2005 WASHINGTON — Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes. When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture. The complicated transactions are drawing scrutiny in legal and political circles after a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges of violating Texas law with a scheme to launder illegal corporate donations to state candidates. Blunt last week temporarily replaced DeLay as House majority leader, and Blunt's son, Matt, has now risen to Missouri's governor. The government's former chief election enforcement lawyer said the Blunt and DeLay transactions are similar to the Texas case and raise questions that should be investigated regarding whether donors were deceived or the true destination of their money was concealed. "These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions," said Lawrence Noble. "It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source," said Noble, who was the Federal Election Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred. None of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations DeLay collected for the 2000 convention were ever disclosed to federal regulators because the type of group DeLay used wasn't governed by federal law at the time. DeLay has temporarily stepped aside as majority leader after being indicted by a Texas prosecutor. Spokesmen for the two Republican leaders say they disclosed what was required by law at the time and believe all their transactions were legal, though donors might not always have know where their money was headed. "It illustrates what others have said, that money gets transferred all the time. This was disclosed to the extent required to be disclosed by applicable law," said Don McGahn, a lawyer for DeLay. "It just shows that donors don't control funds once they're given." Blunt and DeLay planned all along to raise more money than was needed for the convention parties and then route some of that to other causes, such as supporting state candidates, said longtime Blunt aide Gregg Hartley. "We put together a budget for what we thought we would raise and spend on the convention and whatever was left over we were going to use to support candidates," said Hartley, Blunt's former chief of staff who answered AP's questions on behalf of Blunt. Hartley said he saw no similarity to the Texas case. The fact that DeLay's charity, Christine DeLay's consulting firm and Blunt's son were beneficiaries was a coincidence, Hartley said. Much of the money — including one donation to Blunt from an Abramoff client accused of running a "sweatshop" garment factory in the Northern Mariana Islands — changed hands in the spring of 2000, a period of keen interest to federal prosecutors. During that same time, Abramoff arranged for DeLay to use a concert skybox for donors and to take a golfing trip to Scotland and England that was partly underwritten by some of the lobbyist's clients. Prosecutors are investigating whether the source of some of the money was disguised, and whether some of DeLay's expenses were originally put on the lobbyist's credit card in violation of House rules. Both DeLay and Blunt and their aides also met with Abramoff's lobbying team several times in 2000 and 2001 on the Marianas issues, according to law firm billing records obtained by AP under an open records request. DeLay was instrumental in blocking legislation opposed by some of Abramoff's clients. Noble said investigators should examine whether the pattern of disguising the original source of money might have been an effort to hide the leaders' simultaneous financial and legislative dealings with Abramoff and his clients. "You see Abramoff involved and see the meetings that were held and one gets the sense Abramoff is helping this along in order to get access and push his clients' interest," he said. "And at the same time, you see Delay and Blunt trying to hide the root of their funding. "All of these transactions may have strings attached to them. ... I think you would want to look, if you aren't already looking, at the question of a quid pro quo," Noble said. Blunt and DeLay have long been political allies. The 2000 transactions occurred as President Bush was marching toward his first election to the White House, DeLay was positioning himself to be House majority leader and Blunt was lining up to succeed DeLay as majority whip, the third-ranking position in the House. The entities Blunt and DeLay formed allowed them to collect donations of any size and any U.S. source with little chance of federal scrutiny. DeLay's convention fundraising arm, part of his Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (ARMPAC), collected large corporate donations to help wine and dine Republican VIPs during the presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia in late summer 2000. DeLay's group has declined to identify any of the donors. Blunt's group, a nonfederal wing of his Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, eventually registered its activities in Missouri but paid a $3,000 fine for improperly concealing its fundraising in 1999 and spring 2000, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records. Both groups — DeLay's and Blunt's — were simultaneously paying Ellis, the longtime DeLay fundraiser who was indicted along with his boss in Texas in the alleged money laundering scheme. The DeLay group began transferring money to Blunt's group in two checks totaling $150,000 in the spring of 2000, well before Republicans actually met in Philadelphia for the convention. The transfers accounted for most of money Blunt's group received during that period. DeLay's convention arm sent $50,000 on March 31, 2000. Eight days later, the Blunt group made a $10,000 donation to DeLay's private charity for children on April 7, 2000, and began the first of several payments totaling $40,000 to a northern Virginia-based political consulting firm formed by DeLay's former chief of staff, Ed Buckham. That consulting firm at the time also employed DeLay's wife, Christine, according to DeLay's ethics disclosure report to Congress. Hartley said Blunt was unaware that Mrs. DeLay worked at the firm when he made the payments, and that she had nothing to do with Blunt's group. On April 14, 2000, Concorde Garment Manufacturing, based in the Northern Marianas Islands that was part of Abramoff's lobbying coalition, contributed $3,000 to Blunt's group. Hartley said the donation was delivered during a weekend of fundraising activities by Blunt and DeLay but his boss did not know who solicited it. Concorde, derided for years in lawsuits as a Pacific island sweatshop, paid a $9 million penalty to the U.S. government in the 1990s for failing to pay workers' overtime. The company was visited by DeLay. The company was a key member of the Marianas garment industry that the islands' government was trying to protect when it hired Abramoff to lobby DeLay, Blunt and others to keep Congress from imposing tougher wage and tax standards on the islands. After the November 2000 election, Abramoff's firm billed its Mariana Islands clients for at least one meeting with Blunt and three meetings with Blunt's staff, billing records show. Abramoff's team also reported several meetings with DeLay and his staff on the issue, including one during the presidential convention. On May 24, 2000 — just before DeLay left with Abramoff for the Scottish golfing trip — DeLay's convention fundraising group transferred $100,000 more to Blunt's group. Within three weeks, Blunt turned around and donated the same amount to the Missouri Republican Party. The next month, the state GOP began spending large amounts of money to help Blunt's son, Matt, in his successful campaign to become Missouri secretary of state. On July 25, 2000, the state GOP made its first expenditure for the younger Blunt, totaling just over $11,000. By election day, that figure had grown to more than $160,000. Hartley said Blunt always liked to help the state party and the fact that his son got party help after his donation was a coincidence. "They are unrelated activities," he said. Exchanges of donations occurred again in the fall. Just a few days before the November election, DeLay's ARMPAC gave $50,000 to the Missouri GOP. A month later, the Missouri GOP sent $50,000 to DeLay's group. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171393,00.html |
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