The Real Issue in the Tom DeLay Case

Nobody can have a higher opinion of Tom DeLay that I do, I believe he is a dirty little gutter-snipe.

Even if you believe as I do that Representative Tom DeLay is a dirty little gutter-snipe, the prosecution of Tom DeLay by a partisan district attorney is one of the most disturbing events that I have ever witnessed.  The naked power play of Ronnie Earle is so shockingly obvious that under most standards, Earle would be impeached.  This behavior is something you would expect to be attributed to Nixon's CREEP organization (the Committee to Re-Elect the President).

Here is the REAL history of the events in the DeLay case: (from the National Review media blog)

"On Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005 — after six months of hearing Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle present evidence that Tom DeLay conspired with others to violate the Texas Election Code in the fall of 2002 — a Texas grand jury indicted DeLay for conspiracy to violate the election code. Shortly thereafter, DeLay’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, on the grounds that the Texas conspiracy statute did not apply to the election code in 2002.

Panicked, Ronnie Earle’s team convened a second grand jury. This time, Earle’s team presented the case that Tom DeLay committed money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering – both felonies under the Texas criminal code. Friday, Sept. 30, that grand jury refused to indict DeLay based on the evidence presented.

Facing a crisis, Earle’s team convened a third grand jury the following Monday, Oct. 3. According to the Austin American-Statesman, that grand jury listened to Earle present the same case – that DeLay committed money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering – and within four hours, gave Earle the indictments he wanted on both charges.

DeLay’s lawyers filed motions to dismiss the money laundering charges also, citing prosecutorial misconduct (Earle went grand-jury shopping and allegedly committed other irregularities during those frantic seven days) and the lack of an underlying crime (for money laundering to be money laundering, the proceeds of a criminal activity must be involved)." (emphasis added)

The first indictment was dismissed yesterday because the behavior was not a crime in 2002.  Frankly the behavior appears to have been fairly common.  The law making the behavior a crime did not go into affect until 2003.  This is not hard to comprehend.  I'm sure that Ronnie Earle does in fact comprehend this.

The smoking gun in this case is the attempt to use a second grand jury to obtain an indictment...having that fail...and then trying to use a third grand jury to get an indictment.  If that is not prosecutorial misconduct on its face, try this on for size...Ronnie Earle has also claimed to have written evidence that he has been unable to produce.  Now I'm not jumping to any conclusions here but this is such an obvious political power play that we need some legal recourse.  Ronnie Earle needs to be held accountable for his outrageous behavior.

It might come to that before this is done.  I would like to see Tom DeLay pursue Ronnie Earle in a civil court and obtain a judgment against him.  Earle needs to be held accountable and with a rat like this personal financial pain is about all that this rube is going to understand.

In the meantime DeLay has been forced out of his position in the House for behavior which will be found perfectly legal.  That is only a part of what is bothering me about this case.

What the Tom DeLay case is about is a partisan district attorney is trying to make a name for himself by abusing his position.  With the exception of some honest local coverage, the national media has been misleading readers/viewers again.  We can no longer rely upon the national media outlets to accurately portray events, we must wait for the judge to rule on the case.  Sadly the damage to DeLay is happening on the national stage and not as much on the local stage (I don't believe the CNN poll numbers which show DeLay 'weak' in his home district).

Because of the partisan media and the partisan district attorney, the United States of America can no longer be described as a free an open country...we are behaving in the Tom DeLay case like a typical police state.  Am I being too harsh?

Consider what the media would be saying if the person being prosecuted was Hillary Clinton...would the media be willing to allow a partisan prosecutor to try three times to find a grand jury willing to indict and still refuse to critique the process?  The howls of media outrage would shake the entire east coast.  It isn't happening now because we have a state run media (or at least party run media) and the district attorney is from the same party.  There is no real check on his abuse of power.  To the media right now, party is everything.  When this indictment is dismissed, which it will be eventually, what will prevent Ronnie Earle from manufacturing another one, and another one, and another one...nothing at all.  The media cover-up will continue.

Welcome to the new police state in Austin, Texas...power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely...especially when aided by a corrupt national media.

UPDATE:

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that Tom DeLay will likely be faced with real legal issues from the Abramoff lobbying case.  He looks to be very close to the case as some of his former aids have been indicted.  That, of course, has nothing at all to do with the criminal behavior of Ronnie Earle and his national media partners acting as accessories after the fact.

Comments

[Carol]

No, you’re not being too harsh in your assessment of the behavior of Earle and the complicity of the liberal media. You’re describing something that helps form the basis of the left’s political strategy and what left-wing propagandists understand all too well: It is the impression made on people’s minds, not the actual facts, that is the best tool for the party short on ideas.

I don’t understand the “dirty little gutter-snipe” label for Tom DeLay. I hope you’ll explain why you say that.

[Mahatma]

Carol:

Tom DeLay is quite likely to be implicated, charged and convicted for accepting bribes from lobbyists. He has tred a path that others before him destroyed their carreer on.

He also is the politician who claimed that there was 'no waste' in the transportation bill...a bill so full of pork that it oinked when poked with a stick!

The 'gutter-snipe' quotation is borrowed from Winston Churchill, one of the all time masters of the put down. My favorite Churchillian quote was one when he heard that a particular minister was sick...oh let him tell it:

Politician to Churchill: "Winston, have you heard that Sir --- was rushed to the
hospital?" Churchill: "Dear me. I do hope it's nothing trivial."

Or how about this piece of wisdom:

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

One last one:

"Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea!"
"And if you were my wife, I would drink it."

A master at work...

[richard mcenroe]

Mahatma — Will he be sharing a cell with Senators Reid and Dorgan, both of whom took money for votes from Abramoff?