Posted on 09/29/2005 3:31:41 PM PDT by hipaatwo
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 that chronicles what some are calling a 'bloodless coup with corporate cash,'" reads a description of the picture on Birnbaum's website, markbirnbaum.com. The film, according to the description, "follows maverick Austin DA Ronnie Earle's investigation into what really happened when corporate money joined forces with relentless political ambitions to help swing the pivotal 2002 Texas elections, cementing Republican control from Austin to Washington DC."
"We approached him [Earle], and he offered us extraordinary access to him and, to an extent, to his staff," Birnbaum told National Review Online Thursday. "We've been shooting for about two years."
Birnbaum and Schermbeck showed a work-in-progress version of The Big Buy last month at the Dallas Video Festival. At the moment, they do not have a deal for the film to be shown anywhere else. Their last film, Larry v. Lockney, was shown on PBS, and they hope that perhaps a similar arrangement might be made for the new picture. Whoever ends up showing it, the film has so far been funded entirely by its makers. "We tried really hard to get it funded," Birnbaum says, "but we didn't get any takers."
Schermbeck told National Review Online that the film was an irresistible Texas story. "I've been pretty interested in watching Tom DeLay work," Schermbeck says. "I thought he was a fascinating guy, certainly the most powerful Texan to emerge on the national scene in some time, a kind of Republican Sam Rayburn type, with that kind of mastery of the machinery and the will to do it."
But DeLay did not cooperate with the filmmakers, and neither did a number of DeLay allies. Earle, on the other hand, did. "I had known about Ronnie Earle for a very long time," Schermbeck says. "I thought that would be an angle to approach the whole story, telling something about Tom DeLay, even though Tom DeLay wouldn't grant us an interview."
Earle "allowed us behind the scenes when the indictments came down last year, the first wave of indictments," Schermbeck says. "We got to follow him back to his home a couple of times, which I understand he doesn't allow anybody to do." Schermbeck says the film includes interviews with some critics of Earle, as well as lawyers who are representing some of the targets of the investigation.
So far, The Big Buy has received almost no attention in the press. With DeLay's indictment, and increased attention to Earle as well, that situation seems likely to change. (The filmmakers say they will be back at work next week, filming a new ending to the picture.) "We're pretty low on everybody's radar," Schermbeck says. "We kind of took a gamble three years ago. We didn't know what was going to happen. We feel like, as documentary filmmakers, we gambled and it paid off."
Thank you. Any honest American, Liberal or Conservative should be disgusted by this.
"Any honest American, Liberal should be disgusted by this."
I have never heard of one of those....
He is that stupid.
He not only should be disbarred, but he should be facing charges for this abuse of power.
Once again York does fabulous investigative work. One of the very few "Journalists" left in it's traditional sense.
Yeah, he can.
This idiot wants a movie? Well, when the case is dismissed, maybe Mel Gibson will bring one out that shames this idiot to no end.
I couldn't have stated it better. We're fuming here too and something better darned well change to where the actual bad guys start getting punished in this country or we're in serious trouble.
Saw this briefly on Hannity & Crud. Couldn't figure out what film they were talking about.
Thanks for the ping. Nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing.
Ronnie Earle, DEMOCRAT, is not only a hack, but is also an unprofessional nutcase.
Who in their right mind would allow something like this?
Destroy liberals now! expose their lies! No more mr. nice guy!
I'm as mad as hell and you know the rest . . .
I caught a little of this on one of the programs tonight. Unreal, huh?
Maybe Earle promised the grand jury their 15 mintues.
Is this legal considering a Grand Jury was involved??
I have no idea. Likely legal, but surely not ethical.
My guess is that DeLay is in real legal trouble, assuming Earle has a rat fink in his pocket. I know nobody agrees with me on this, but I don't think the merry go round of money will fly under Texas law, and Delay admitted to Brit that he knew about the Texas PAC contributions that went to the RNC, and said "everybody" was pumping money into soft accounts in exchange for hard dollars from conduit entities. Maybe everybody was. Tell it to a jury.
Nobody gives a flying fartola about California and what's legal there! Said it before, say it again...
You are a fruitcake, which by the way are made in Georgia!
LOL. And I think fruitcakes are one of the most foul foods ever invented by man. Send one to DeLay in his cell, maybe. See you in church.
"Honest American Liberal" is an oxymoron.
This hack DA is an extreme embarrassment to the Texas Bar Association. Why in the world is he not disbarred for using his position for political vendettas and MOVIE productions, not to mention shaking down corporations for his pet projects? Wake up, TBA!!!
I am not supposed to log on to post from work, but I think you are correct. If the film crew was allowed to see ANY evidence, the case should be thrown out. Grand Jury evidence MUST be kept secret and this evidence is now tainted.
F*** ronnie earle.
signed, the boss
Psssst.... I put my boss on to this site some time ago..
I know my boss "lurks" here, but didn't know he (you) posts as well.....
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