This way both sides can pretend they had a victory. Commence victory dances.......NOW! http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/05/delay.case.ap/index.html DeLay conspiracy charge tossed out Judge upholds more serious money-laundering allegations Monday, December 5, 2005; Posted: 6:47 p.m. EST (23:47 GMT) AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the far more serious allegations of money-laundering, dashing the congressman's hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader. Texas Judge Pat Priest, who is presiding over the case against the Republican, issued the ruling after a hearing late last month in which DeLay's attorney argued that the indictment was fatally flawed. When he was indicted in September, DeLay was required under House rules to relinquish the leadership post he had held since 2003. While Monday's ruling was a partial victory for DeLay, he cannot reclaim his post because he remains under indictment. The ruling means the case will move toward a trial next year, though other defense objections to the indictments remain to be heard by the judge. "The court's decision to dismiss Ronnie Earle's numerous charges against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were," DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said, referring to the Democratic district attorney who brought the case. "Mr. DeLay is very encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings and looks forward to his eventual and absolute exoneration based on the facts and the law." Earle had no immediate comment. Split decision DeLay, 58, and two GOP fundraisers, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, are accused of illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate donations to 2002 Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature. Under Texas law, corporate money cannot be directly used for political campaigns, but it can be used for administrative purposes. In asking that the case be thrown out, DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued that one of the charges -- conspiracy to violate the Texas election code -- did not even take effect until September 2003, a year after the alleged offenses occurred. Prosecutors, however, said the crime of conspiracy was already on the books, and could be applied to the election code even though such uses were not explicitly in state law at the time. The judge was not persuaded by that argument and dismissed the conspiracy charge. But the judge upheld charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges involve an alleged attempt by DeLay to conceal the source of the campaign contributions by funneling the money through his own political action committee and then an arm of the Republican National Committee. In trying to have those charges thrown out, the defense argued that the Texas money laundering law does not apply to funds in the form of a check -- just coins or paper money. But the judge said that checks "are clearly funds and can be the subject of money laundering." The defense attorneys also argued that the definition of money laundering in Texas involves the transfer of criminal proceeds. Because the money in this case was not illegal to begin with, they argued, money laundering never occurred. But the judge rejected that argument. Conspiracy to violate the election code carries up to two years in prison. Money laundering is punishable by five years to life. Conspiracy to commit money laundering carries two years. Political effects The alleged campaign-finance scheme had far-reaching political effects. With DeLay's fundraising muscle, the GOP took control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years, then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that resulted in more Texas Republicans going to Congress. At the court hearing last month, DeLay's lawyers asked for a quick decision on their request for a dismissal, and, if the ruling went against DeLay, a prompt trial, in hopes that he could regain his leadership post by the time the House reconvenes in late January. But the judge said at the time that it was unlikely the case would go to trial before the first of the year. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri became majority leader when DeLay stepped aside. The judge has yet to rule on a defense bid to move DeLay's trial out of liberal, Democratic-leaning Austin and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. DeGuerin accused the district attorney of shopping the DeLay case around to different grand juries until he found one that would indict the congressman. The case ended up before Priest, a Democrat, after DeLay's attorneys had a previous judge removed for contributing to Democratic candidates and causes. Priest has made few political contributions over the years. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
In trying to have those charges thrown out, the defense argued that the Texas money laundering law does not apply to funds in the form of a check -- just coins or paper money. Seriously?
Yes, they seriously attempted to argue the distinction. Insert numerous roll-eyes *here.* The one good thing about this is that DeLay's gig as Speaker is over. There will be a scramble now to replace him. The Cockroach was depending on a quick end to this scandal in order to hang on to his post. No quick end equals bye-bye to being Speaker. That's good news for the country, but not particularly good news for Democrats, because DeLay staying in the job simply highlighted how corrupt the GOP has become. Oh well. Keep D&D Civil.
Paul Begala is from Sugar land? Who knew! DeLay Country, or not ... By Paul Begala I grew up in Tom DeLay's district. If you want to get a feel for what it was like back then, rent "The Sugar Land Express." It's a prison break movie, made in 1974, based on a true story - the time in 1959 when a woman convinced her husband to break out of the Beauford H. Jester Correctional Institute. The movie was the biggest thing ever to hit Sugar Land. It starred Goldie Hawn and Ben Johnson, and was directed by a young nobody called Spielberg. Don't know whatever became of him, but they let us out of school to watch `em film it. Back in the 70s I knew people who could recall when Sugar Land was a company town - the company being the Imperial Sugar Company. In the old days, the oldtimers would say, the dry goods store, the grocery store, even the Palms Theater (complete with "COLORED" entrance, which went straight up into the balcony) - all of them were owned by Imperial, a company which traces its roots in the area way back to 1843. When I was a kid I lived in Missouri City, which is right next door to Sugar Land. Back then Missouri City didn't have a junior high or a high school, so I attended John Foster Dulles Junior High and John Foster Dulles High School, in Sugar Land. There is, by the way, no evidence Dulles ever set foot in Sugar Land, but the city fathers in the 1950s were pretty sure Secretary Dulles was against the Commies, and that was good enough for them. Fort Bend County, Texas had one of the largest slave populations in Texas in the 1850s and 60s, with slaves outnumbering whites by two-to-one. Needless to say, it was pro-Confederacy during the War of Northern Aggression. After Reconstruction, local racist Democrats formed the Jaybird Democratic Association - a "private" organization that held white-only elections, pledging itself to the "protection of the white race, "honest and economical government" and opposing the black-white coalition of Reconstruction Republicans. The winner of the Jaybird primary was guaranteed victory both in the Democratic primary and the general election. The Supreme Court outlawed the Jaybird Primary in 1953. More than a half-century later, Fort Bend County gave 57 percent of its vote to Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The schools had already been integrated when I went there, but almost everyone used the N-word. (My parents, who were from New Jersey, were aghast and banned the word from our home and our mouths.) There was a daily, fundamentalist morning devotional, read over the loudspeaker by the principal. The school's only two Jews - the Lavine twins - stood out in the hall. Students who didn't call their teachers "Sir" or "Ma'am" were beaten with paddles (we called the experience "getting pops"). A boy's hair could not extend below the natural hairline on the back of his neck - which may sound harsh, but forbade the adoption of the mullet. From the County Fair to Friday night football, the attitude was small town and rural. Today, Sugar Land is decidedly suburban. Houston has overwhelmed the area, which is today littered with Chili's and golf courses and strip malls and mega-churches. My brothers and my dad have moved in to Houston; the last time I tried to visit the old hometown, in 2000, I got lost. Except for the prison, all the old landmarks are gone. It's just another soulless suburb. If you ask me, the prisoners have the better of the bargain. A new CNN-USA TODAY/Gallup poll says that 52 percent of the residents of Tom DeLay's district in Texas have an unfavorable opinion of him. Just 37 percent view him favorably. My question is: who are the 37 percent? Are they fundamentalists? I can't imagine it. I'm a Catholic, but I used to love going to Vacation Bible School with my fundamentalist friends. I never heard a preacher say it was okay to help gambling lobbyists or support cigarette companies, or help rum-makers - all things Congressman DeLay has done. Could they be veterans? I doubt it. As a teenager I worked at Court's True Value Hardware. Mr. Court's Uncle Buster fought at Corregidor and survived the Bataan Death March. He suffered for three and a half years as a POW and served for three decades as Constable. I doubt Uncle Buster would think kindly of a congressman who said he didn't serve because all those lucky minorities took all the good slots in Vietnam. Whoever they are, the folks who approve of Tom DeLay are now in the minority. DeLay trails an unnamed Democrat by 13 points, and his real opponent, former Congressman Nick Lampson, is a Democrat whose roots in the district run so deep he's kin to Uncle Buster. My guess is folks are looking for a conservative, not a crook. I know Nick Lampson. He represents the best of my part of Texas - a strong sense of community, a real commitment to family values, a rejection of DeLay's brand of whorehouse politics and a passion for reform. DeLay's sleaze, combined with the quagmire in Iraq and Bush's sinking approval, could prove fatal. How fitting it would be if Sugar Land, a town which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg because of a big-hearted loser who broke out of prison, returned to the national spotlight 32 years later because of a hard-hearted bully who may be sent to prison. http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/12/6/04354/9842
I think that the judge should order torture for DeLay in order to extract critical information from him.
