Tom DeLay Guilty of Money Laundering, Faces Prison Term

The "Hammer" is going to the slammer.

 

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DeLay is a slimeball, but I don't see how what he did is money laundering.

 

I hope all the other congress whores go to prison and get their ass raped with Delay.

 

buh bye Tommy!

 

the biggest crime here is that it took 5 years to go to court and get a conviction.

 

This was just a Stalinist style show trial.

 

You must have missed this line in the article...

Besides, even in Austin (or Boston or San Fran), I think you'd have a hard time finding a judge, a DA and 12 jury members (chosen by both sides) who all took the Stalinist view of criminal trials.

 

The application of the facts to the law were. It's not at all surprising how it all went down in the PRA.

 

Actually, I'd argue it's pretty textbook.

It's illegal for Corporations A to give money to Candidates B in Texas. That's the law.

Tom DeLay steps in: "I have an idea."

Corporations A, through DeLay, give $190,000 to National Committee (RN)C. And, if memory serves, on the same freaking day National Committe (RN)C cuts $190,000 in checks to Candidates B.

Not only is that textbook money laundering, DeLay belongs in prison because it was so insurmountably stupid to make it so obvious.

 

I'm more mad at the fact at what he was doing with the money. That money he laundered went to illegally manipulating the makeup of the Texas house of representatives which in turn proceeded to redistrict the US Congressional seats in Texas in an off year because Republicans felt they deserved more congressional seats.

Tom DeLay basically ruined state politics here. The Texas legislature went from a model of bipartisanship to a partisan nightmare run by a DeLay clone in Tom Craddick and its only going to get worse now.

 

I've done some jobs for Delay before, I always got an obvious slimeball feel from him.

 

In Jail! In Jail Without the Bail!

 

like what, inducing out of body experiences for him, Dr. Neurologist?

 

Hyperbole, it's what's for breakfast.

 

Yes. After Queen Pelosi did such a wonderful job of "draining the swamp" :grin:. Seriously, Delay deserves what he gets. Politicians from either party should get in trouble when the abuse power. These people are elected to serve the people who elected them. Some of them let the power go to their head and think they are above the law. Nobody is above the law no matter what party you belong to.

 

Not so impossible, I don't think. The jury makes determinations of fact, which as you noted weren't really in much dispute, while the judge interprets the law and instructs the jury on what qualifies as a violation of the law. So the outcome of this trial was mostly in the hands of the judge. (of course, a jury can always rebel when a judge is obviously off his rocker.)

I don't think it was a show trial. But, I do see how it could be. Of course, there's still a bazillion appeals to go through, to protect against this very problem. Let's see if the conviction withstands review. I'm hoping it does.

 

Couldn't agree more. He'll appeal the sentence, so I doubt he'll see the inside of a jail for a while. I'm waiting to see what that sentence is. The judge has a lot of latitude here. Heck, he could give him a fine and probation. I hope he throws the book at him.