All this proves is that if you are a conservative Republican politician in Texas, you are a target for Ronnie Earle.
Why does this little worm keep getting elected, anyway? Is Travis County so full of dimlibs that they can't elect an honest man?
More interesting details here:
“Dollars for Dismissals” - Ronnie Earle dropped charges in exchange for cash to pet cause.
National Review ^ | June 20, 2005 | Byron York
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/york/york200506200910.asp
The Earle of Injustice" makes one of his most unethical moves yet (Texas)
TexasGOP.org ^ | 07/12/05 | Chairman Tina J. Benkiser
Posted on 07/12/2005 7:06:31 PM CDT by SwinneySwitch
A recent National Review article uncovered that Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney, dismissed charges against four of eight companies being prosecuted for corporate donations in Texas. In exchange for dropping the charges, Earle insisted that the companies make $100,000 contributions to an organization in Stanford that wants to keep corporations from being involved in the political process, despite their First Amendment right to do so. While all the companies in question maintain that their actions were legal and that they would be exonerated in court, Earle convinced them that the contributions would be less costly than a long drawn out court battle.
Chairman Benkiser said, “In an ongoing vendetta against Texas businesses and Republicans, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is abusing the very justice system he has sworn and is paid to protect. Demanding that Texas businesses make payments to his pet political causes in return for protection from his prosecutorial abuses reeks of an old-fashion shakedown. It appears that Earle is not as interested in keeping businesses out of the political arena as he is benefiting from them. How his actions have escaped the scrutiny of investigators is a mystery, and Earle needs to resign.”
The most interesting aspect of this is the Texas’ media’s failure to report on this development.
Action Item: Call your local paper and ask why they have not reported on this matter! Read the National Review article
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441525/posts
Flashback to an article printed a year ago..........to revive your memory................Julie
The Dan Rather, Bill Burket connection to Travis County & Erles' partsan activities:
American Spectator
Texas Smear Machine Targets DeLay
By Peter Flaherty
Published 9/23/2004
If nothing else, you have to give Travis County Democrats credit for thinking big, like real Texans. Apparently undaunted that the assault on President Bush's National Guard service blew up in their faces, they are now trying to bring down House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
All roads in the CBS memo scandal traverse Travis County. Dan Rather was the special guest at a 2001 fundraiser for the Travis County Democratic Party, and his daughter is active in the organization. Former National Guardsman Bill Burkett, the unstable Bush-baiter, who now claims he was the source of the forged documents, is represented (and many believe directed) by David Van Os, the former Travis County Democratic Party chairman.
Now Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat with a history of bringing politically motivated indictments, has indicted three DeLay aides who ran a political action committee called Texans for a Republican Majority PAC.
Continued here:
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7151
I thought the judge threw it out.
I'm in Delay's district.
Wanted me to call Tom's office and tell him I wanted a time-table on getting troops out of Iraq.
Earle should be disbarred.
Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct
(a) In the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that it will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicatory proceeding. A lawyer shall not counsel or assist another person to make such a statement.
(b) A lawyer ordinarily will violate paragraph (a), and the likelihood of a violation increases if the adjudication is ongoing or imminent, by making an extrajudicial statement of the type referred to in that paragraph when the statement refers to: ...
(4) any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of a defendant or suspect in a criminal case or proceeding that could result in incarceration;..
3.09 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor
The prosecutor in a criminal case shall:
(a) refrain from prosecuting or threatening to prosecute a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause;
(b) refrain from conducting or assisting in a custodial interrogation of an accused unless the prosecutor has made reasonable efforts to be assured that the accused has been advised of any right to, and the procedure for obtaining, counsel and has been given reasonable opportunity to obtain counsel;
(c) not initiate or encourage efforts to obtain from an unrepresented accused a waiver of important pre-trial, trial or post-trial rights;
(d) make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense, and, in connection with sentencing, disclose to the defense and to the tribunal all unprivileged mitigating information known to the prosecutor, except when the prosecutor is relieved of this responsibility by a protective order of the tribunal; and
(e) exercise reasonable care to prevent persons employed or controlled by the prosecutor in a criminal case from making an extrajudicial statement that the prosecutor would be prohibited from making under Rule 3.07.