Free Republic

In a recent speech, I told the audience about the political landscape of the 2006 elections. It’s going to be much tougher for Republicans than in recent election cycles. As a political party, we must have our act together in order to be successful. Unfortunately, that task has become tougher. The congressional seat of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay is now in jeopardy thanks in part to a failure in leadership from party officials. Following a primary election victory, Rep. DeLay decided, through the advice of party officials, that because of the media circus that was surrounding his pending court...

Court nixes part of Texas political map By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the Republican-boosting Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but threw out part, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights. ADVERTISEMENT The fractured decision was a small victory for Democratic and minority groups who accused Republicans of an unconstitutional power grab in drawing boundaries that booted four Democratic incumbents from office. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060628/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_texas_redistricting Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said Hispanics do not have...

I was sitting at the computer reading about the cruise my daughter and I are taking this weekend, when the phone rings, and a womans voice announces that there is a message for concerned West virginians. She then goes on to say that Shelly Moore Capito is a friend of indicted Tom Delay etc, etc, etc... I hung up about then, but thought, damn, the Dems are getting worried for some reason. I wish Shelly had chosen to take on "Sheets"!

<p>WASHINGTON - Tony Rudy, a former top aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, has agreed to plead guilty to charges in the widening federal investigation of lobbyist fraud, a law enforcement official said Friday.</p> <p>A hearing was scheduled Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, where Rudy was expected to enter his plea.</p>

Texas Republicans were guilty of a naked political power grab when they re-drew congressional boundaries, the Supreme Court was told Wednesday in a case that could have a major impact on elections. Justices are considering whether the Republican-friendly map promoted by former Majority Leader Tom DeLay is unconstitutional. The 2003 boundaries approved by the GOP-controlled state Legislature helped the Republican Party pick up six seats in Congress, but it also led to serious woes for DeLay. He was charged in state court with money laundering in connection with fundraising for legislative candidates. He gave up his leadership post and is...

Let the campaigning begin! No, not the Oscars. That race is almost over. The next big campaign is Election 2006. And who in D.C. is enjoying the entertainment biz's largesse this election year? According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, it's -- no surprise -- Hillary Clinton, who has taken in $213,645 so far from movie, TV and music industry sources. Second place is closely contested by two Teds: Ted Stevens, Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee ($100,500), and Ted Kennedy, of the Democratic family dynasty ($94,600). Clinton has been a Hollywood favorite almost from...

Hollywood celebrities and prominent corporate executives have poured thousands of dollars into the campaign of former Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) to knock off Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Screenwriter and producer Norman Lear, director Rob Reiner, actress and singer Barbara Streisand and musician Don Henley have written checks to Lampson, according to politicalmoneyline.com, a website that tracks campaign contributions. Reiner and Streisand kicked in $1,000, and Lear and Henley sent Lampson $4,200. While Democrats have courted Hollywood stars in recent years, the moguls’ money has usually flowed to presidential candidates, the national party or the congressional fundraising committees. As a rule,...

Republican pol is booked on conspiracy, money laundering charges OCTOBER 20--Here's the Tom DeLay mug shot snapped this afternoon when the deposed House majority leader appeared at a Harris County, Texas sheriff's office to be booked on conspiracy and money laundering charges. The Republican pol, 58, was forced to submit to a brief photo and fingerprint session after a District Judge yesterday issued an arrest warrant for him. DeLay's mug shot was taken at the sheriff's office in Richmond. The congressman is scheduled for his initial court appearance tomorrow in Travis County District Court. (2 pages) SAY CHEESE: Click here...

(snip) The resulting film is called The Big Buy, made by Texas filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck. (emphasis added) Jim Schermbeck is not just a filmmaker. I have been looking into Schermbeck's odd connection to the DeLay case for the past couple of weeks. Go to this web site, and scroll down to the bottom. See a familiar name? It's Jim Schermbeck, "filmmaker." And leftwing activist. Check out this sympathetic story in the Dallas Observer, which identifies Schermbeck not as a filmmaker, but as an environmental activist. A couple of weeks ago I spoke via phone with Harold Green,...

WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor has subpoenaed outgoing and incoming calls for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's home phone number.  More details to come.

Maybe Ronnie Earle has the goods on Tom DeLay and maybe not. I'm perfectly content to let a jury consider the evidence and decide. But if a jury does convict DeLay, I'm proposing a new nickname for the man who was, until Wednesday, one of the most powerful figures in national politics. Forget "The Hammer." He will be "Scarface." As in Al Capone. The connection? Capone was a monumental tough guy who ran gambling, prostitution, protection, bootlegging and other rackets in Chicago — only to be brought down on lower level charges that he cheated on his income taxes. DeLay...

The DeLay prosecutor has let a film crew follow him through the whole case. For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case. The resulting film is called The Big Buy, made by Texas filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck. "Raymond Chandler meets Willie Nelson on the corner of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in The Big Buy, a Texas noir political detective story...

weegee note: Despite all claims to the contrary by the author, this is a hit piece on restauranteur/talk show host Edd Hendee. If the steak house is so old and unremarkable, why even cover it? If his politics are irrelevant (which they are) and not a factor in his critique, why get so venemous? What a *********. Note there was a considerable wait to get in. To quote Yogi Berra, "That place is so crowded that nobody goes there anymore." on with the article... Past Its Prime - Taste of Texas Steakhouse takes you on a nostalgia trip to the...

Self-inflicted wound District attorney's poor judgment in speaking at a Democratic fund-raiser provides an unintended boost for DeLay's defenders. Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has spent the past year investigating corporate funds collected by political action committees connected to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. So far, a grand jury has indicted three of the Sugar Land representative's associates for violating Texas election laws. Republicans have accused the veteran prosecutor, a Democrat, of conducting a partisan witch hunt. Earle's attendance and remarks attacking DeLay at a Democratic fund-raiser last week in Dallas damaged the credibility...

This CONSERVATIVE ALERT is a special message for Bob Johnson from RightMarch.com: ALERT: Do you think we have a hard time fighting against the left-wing bias of the liberal mainstream media? Well you're right -- but it's worse than you thought. Now, it turns out the people running the big search engines are liberally biased, too -- and they're CENSORING conservative search ad results! Specifically, we're talking about the biggest search engine: GOOGLE. Everyone uses Google. It's even a verb now -- "I'll Google that to find out." But it's also an advertising vehicle -- you can pay Google money,...

In the decades after Watergate, Washington figures in legal or political hot water heard some familiar words of wisdom: The coverup is almost always worse than the crime. Never hunker down. Above all, never lie. Lately, though, the evidence is mounting that this tried-and-true advice may no longer be true. Recent evidence suggests that hunkering down can sometimes work just fine, in a political and news media environment that has changed significantly in recent years. Examples include legal controversies involving prominent Democrats as well as the Bush White House. Even people who got caught in falsehoods have resolved their cases...

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal expense fund accepted improper contributions from two registered lobbyists in 2001 and this week returned the checks, totaling $3,500, fund trustee Brent Perry said Tuesday. House rules prohibit lobbyists from making contributions to a member's legal defense fund. The Tom DeLay Legal Expense Trust has raised more than $900,000 since its creation in 2000, said Perry, a Houston attorney. The reimbursement was prompted by Public Citizen, a Washington-based watchdog group, which combed through DeLay's fund and identified the improper contributions. Asked why it took the fund so long to return the checks,...

Earlier this year, Tom DeLay correctly diagnosed the disease that infects his congressional majority. "If 1994 was the year we stopped thinking like a permanent minority," DeLay told Republicans gathered for a February party retreat in Philadelphia, "2004 is the year we start thinking like a permanent majority: unified, aggressive, rightfully confident of victory." DeLay, of course, thought permanent-majority status would be a good thing for the GOP, but nine months later he's become the symbol of a party corrupted by its lock on power. When House Republicans voted last month to allow members who have been indicted to keep...

Claiming to have acted solely in the public interest, Republicans in Austin devised congressional districts that will place almost half of all Texans, against the wishes of most, in a different congressional district. This is not the first time the good of one party's politicians has outweighed the will of the people. The compromise bill was fashioned in the absence of Gov. Rick Perry, who was in New York promoting Texas business and raising campaign funds. Since his presence had done so little to advance either public or party interest, little was lost through his absence. U.S. House Majority Leader...