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Documents show Earle – media collusion
The Party Line: March 15, 2004

Several weeks ago, Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser filed an open records request with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to find out how much taxpayer money he is wasting on his partisan investigation of the 2002 elections, as well as what kind of contacts he has had with the media. In the past, Earle – a.k.a. the Earle of Injustice – has been accused of leaking sealed grand jury testimony to the press to hurt Republicans.

Mr. Earle appealed to the Attorney General to keep most of the documents hidden, but the State GOP has received some of the requested information.

The documents reveal that Mr. Earle and one of his employees were asked to review several drafts of a journalist’s column before it went to press. Dave McNeely with the Austin American Statesman repeatedly asked Mr. Earle to provide input on the drafts, and told him to "keep your fingers crossed" as newspaper editors finalized the articles for publication. No Republicans were given the same opportunity.

The revelation that Mr. Earle is so closely coordinating the publication of negative newspaper articles about Republicans only reinforces the belief that the primary purpose of his investigation is to unfairly hang Republicans in the media.

Additional documents show that an Austin television journalist apparently has been aiding the DA’s partisan witch hunt.

Nanci Wilson, an investigative reporter with KEYE-TV, emailed to D.A. Ronnie Earle letters from defense attorney Andy Taylor to Judge John Dietz. Mr. Taylor’s letters outlined the defense’s position on legal issues at the center of a civil lawsuit regarding the 2002 elections. Mr. Earle, who is conducting a separate criminal investigation, acknowledged that he "had not seen the letters" until Wilson provided them.

In a separate email, Wilson tells Earle that she and a mutual friend "had a long ‘We love Ronnie’ discussion! So if your ears were burning, good things were being said."

It is appalling that a member of the press would intentionally aid Ronnie Earle’s partisan witch hunt. How can Republicans get a fair shake with this reporter if she is serving as a clandestine intelligence operative for Ronnie Earle?

Egregious instances of media bias like this hurt the public’s trust in the press.

Ronnie Earle’s investigation is clearly focused on creating negative headlines and nightly broadcasts about Republicans, and it is disappointing to learn that he is being helped by at least two members of the press.

It is absolutely ridiculous for Mr. Earle to claim that he needs additional time to complete his fishing expedition by convening a new grand jury. If he would spend more time doing his job instead of playing news director or newspaper editor, this witch hunt would have been over a long time ago.

Well, yes, but.... It is the possible indictment of DeLay that is the unethical poiitical here. They have seen a loophole that they can control and the dems have sought to exploit it. The dems hate DeLay and will attack him any way they can. My bet is that they already have a plan of harassment in the event he drops his leadership role. They would watch him and every time he did something demonstrating leadership, that hag Pelosi would call a press conference and cackle.

These people are the slimiest ever. They prove, day after day, that they are vicious, medacious and vindictive partisans with no interest in anything but regaining power. They should be treated like the cockroaches they are!

1) I've been active in Houston, Texas, Republican politics since Barry Goldwater was the Republican nominee for President (1964, for those in Rio Linda.)
2) At the time, Democrats had control of the political machinery -- local, county, state and national.
3) The Census was taken in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. Guess who did the redistricting in 1970, 1980 and 1990? That was not controversial? Republicans told themselves to just work harder AND DID NOT COMPLAIN. (And the GOP is an amateur, when it comes to gerrymandering.)
4) After 2000, Republicans had the controls for the first time (since Reconstruction, after the Civil War.) Only then could they participate in redistricting.
5) The "lawsuit" is a continuation of the FIASCO where State Democrat Legislators fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico, to impede the redistricting process. (They finally had to come home and redistricting was completed.)
6) Republicans didn't do that in 1970, 1980 and 1990 and if you believe that national level Democrats had no hand in the redistricting process, I have a title to an Alamo that I would like to sell you. (I'll make it cheap.)
7) A local Democrat Congressman by the name of Chris Bell
and the Austin, Texas district attorney (Ronnie Earle, a Democrat) are the ones who are behind the suit against Tom.
8) The suit, filed by a Democrat Congressman with the help of a Democrat district attorney is purely political. Its sole purpose is to create bad publicity for Tom Delay and other Texas Republicans.
9) I live in Harris County, Texas where I lived in Tom Delay's district (1980.) Some time before 1990, a district line was moved by a court so that I lived in Ken Bentsen's district. And Chris Bell is now my Congressman, because he succeeded Ken Bentsen.
10) Since House Republicans acted, maybe we will see an end to this charade (eventually.) Congressional Republicans do not want Tom to step down just because a meaningless suit gets filed in an Austin, Texas Kangaroo Court -- and neither do I.

IT IS AMAZING HOW A NEW HAMPSHIRE NEWSPAPER CAN CRITICIZE REPUBLICANS FOR DOING THE EXACT THING THAT DEMOCRATS DID WHEN THEY WERE ABLE TO.

People seem to forget that Ronnie Earle went after Kay Bailey Hutchinson the senior US senator from Texas. When the case got to court, i think in Fort Worth Earle could not produce any evidence. Earle is a Democrat party operative he is not impartially administering justice. Ever since the Republicans became the majority party in Texas the Demaocrats have used their position in Travis County( Austin the state capital is in Travis) to try to affect state and national Republican officeholders.

Also Dave McNeely at the Austin American Idiot is an Al Hunt wannabe