Tom DeLay Guilty of Money Laundering, Faces Prison Term

An appeals court cleared DeLay of wrong doing. Although I have never been a fan of his, this is the end of it. The sad part is the Democrats used the same strategy to eliminate him as a political rival as they did Gov. John Connally with the infamous "milk scandal." That strategy obviously is effective but without any semblance of honor.

 

Thumbs, are you seriously using the word "honor" in a post about Tom DeLay? If you were saying he has absolutely none, then I would agree. If you are saying that attempting to convict DeLay for election tampering was somehow "dishonorable," then I couldn't disagree more. And while you and I certainly remember John Connally, most people here recall him as being that dude in the car with Jack Kennedy, the one that got shot, the governor, and that's about all they know.

 

My post has nothing to do with DeLay's honor or lack of it. It addresses the lack of honor in the methodology of how Democrats get rid of political enemies, past and present.

 

Ronnie Earle was the one who sued Delay on behalf of the state. Find me a shred of evidence that he's some partisan ideologue who's in it to destroy Republicans. The guy had been the Travis County DA for decades during Democratic and Republican administrations. You won't find a politician who doesn't respect Ronnie Earle.

Stop making up fantasy stories to fit your own contrived political narrative.

 

You really haven't explored the judge shopping and maneuvering to get the case tried in Austin, the most liberal city in Texas, have you? I really don't care that DeLay was deposed. I do object to the way it was done. Apparently, the appeals court agrees with me.

 

He was trying to skirt campaign finance rules to make sure he would get reelected.

It is a pretty ridiculous if laws don't prevent that.

 

I don't remember the specifics of the case, but didn't like 6 grand juries refuse to indict him? Wasn't the prosecutor some D that had a history of political trials? I've heard little tid bits here and there, but not sure what is fact and what is fiction.

 

That's not what he actually did. Here's what happened.

In Texas, there is a direct ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns. Delay had a PAC that took campaign contributions. He then funneled those campaign contributions via various intermediaries (friends and associates) to the Republican legislative caucus as well as individual Republican state legislative campaigns. The whole point of this was to flip the Texas House from Democratic to Republican control. The House roadblocked Republican led plans to gerrymander US Congressional maps in 2000 and ultimately resulted in a court ordered map that largely held together the 1990 maps that were gerrymandered for Democrats. However, Texas House and Senate maps go to a redistricting board instead of a court if the legislature can't agree to a redistricting plan (which happened in 2000) That redistricting committee is made up of statewide elected officials (at the time were all Republicans) so they drew a state House map that radically redrew districts to make it possible for Republicans to win the state House. Delay compounded this by funneling illegal money to state legislative campaigns to help win new seats. They ultimately won the House in 2002 and in 2003 they pushed through their US Congressional redistricting plan. The whole point of the lawsuit was that Delay illegally used money to help Republicans win control of the Texas legislature.

He was prosecuted on multiple counts. First was conspiracy to violate election law, money laundering and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The election law indictment was later thrown out because the Texas constitution didn't list violating election law as a "criminal activity" so conspiracy couldn't be applied to it. (although that is a debatable argument)

The other two charges stuck around through lower court cases.

To me the silliest thing about this case is that Delay got judges removed on the grounds that they had donated to Democratic candidates yet 2 Republican judges on the Court of Appeals who had donated to Republican candidates were allowed to stay and ultimately overturn lower court rulings on this case.

The PAC that Delay created faced federal charges of violating federal election laws and Delay's main associates who spearheaded this whole effort were also convicted. Delay's only argument was that he didn't have his fingerprints on the donations so you can't convict him of money laundering. Also he claimed that misusing campaign contributions from companies didn't constitute as "money laundering"

To me those were weak arguments but I guess the Court of Appeals upheld it.

Lastly, I know it is convenient to vilify Ronnie Earle as a partisan ideologue who had it in for Delay but Ronnie Earle was an institution. You can't find one objective person who will claim that Ronnie Earle was out to destroy Republicans. The guy prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans, including Democratic leaders in state government. The other thing is the supposed jury shopping. There was 1 jury that refused to indict Delay. So he did end up trying a different Travis County grand jury which did indict him.

Also Travis County was a valid location for the case. It involved state government and state election laws which falls under the jurisdiction of the Travis County DA and the Public Integrity Unit (which until this past year was state funded).

 

Thumbs, the Travis County district attorney's office typically investigates and prosecutes alleged criminal and ethics cases involving state government. They have a Public Integrity Unit just for that purpose, and have had this function for many years. Austin is the state capital, as you are aware. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but that he was tried here shouldn't have been a surprise.

 

Cleared him of wrong doing? Well, not exactly...

Noteworthy, the "2" in that decision were republican judges...

 

Trueroxfan was on target with his/her question. Six prior grand jury cited a lack of proof. That same lack of proof finding forced the appeals court to throw the case out.

Again, I have no love for Tom DeLay. I do object to how he was railroaded and, in my opinion, so should you. Austin was and is the only place in Texas where he be could be tied down on those railroad tracks.

 

who says I'm pro-life?

 

ignore post, but what I meant ot say was how would you (texxx) know whether I'm pro life or not? I'm not a democrat. Just because I can see that neocons are a part of a depraved cesspool doesn't make me a democrat.

If anything I'm an independent, (YES A REAL INDEPENDENT) not like many of the republicans that masquerade around as such on this forum. I never voted for Obama nor do I agree with a lot of his policies. He is just a lesser evil I have to side with because the republican party is an embarrassment to this country.

 

It's not over. I heard on NPR this morning that the DA will appeal to the Criminal Court of Appeals. If the Criminal Court of Appeals declines to hear the case, then it's over. But, the DA thinks it will hear the case.

 

You have the facts so you think DeLay did nothing wrong?

 

Holy crap thumbs, rethink about how Tom DeLay abuses political power, shows no integrity or limits to ruthlessness and tell me the what methodology you'd recommend to bring back some integrity in to our exaulted democratic system.
If he controls the voting, you can't vote him out. Capone got taken down with a tax charge.

 

Not necessarily, but the Texas Court of Appeals does not. Ergo, it matters not what you or I think.

 

Capone's conviction was upheld. DeLay's conviction was not. Again, what you or I think does not matter.

 

Again, this is not an accurate statement.

 

As a taxpayer, I will gladly pay for the re-trial.

(eh, it Texas, who am I kidding?)