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Ronnie Earle and dirty politics
Stingray blog ^ | September 29, 2005 | Michael McCullough

Posted on 09/29/2005 4:25:23 PM PDT by DallasMike

Ronnie Earle is the most corrupt politician in Texas (I don't know about other states, but District Attorneys are politicians here) and is well-known for using his political agenda to prosecute people. Not only did he indict Kay Bailey Hutchison within days after she won her Senate seat (the first such seat occupied by a Republican since 1875), but he also "investigated" or indicted Democrats who managed to get on his wrong side, like Gib Lewis, who once ran against Earle for office, and Bob Bullock, the Democrat political mentor of President Bush. In the Hutchison case, she demanded a jury trial and as soon as the jury was seated, Earle dropped the case. If his case was so weak that we would not even present it, then why did he indict Hutchison in the first place? Earle is also a close friend of Robin Rather -- the daughter of Dan Rather. She has sponsored several fund-raisers for Earle and has at least once (in 2000) contributed the maximum amount allowed by law to Earle's campaign. Ben Barnes, the Democratic lobbyist and former lieutenant governor of Texas, is a also a running buddy of Earle's and joined Robin Rather in sponsoring an Earle fundraiser. Did I mention that Ben Barnes was featured prominently in the 60 Minutes report that triggered Dan Rather's Memogate escapade?

At a recent Democrat fundraiser, Earle compared Tom DeLay to a bully. Such a thing is not only in bad taste, but is probably also illegal, since the ABA's Canon of Ethics prohibits extra-judicial statements concerning "the character...of the accused" or "any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, the evidence, or the merits of the case." Apparently, Earle is using his power to prosecute DeLay in the media before he tries to prosecute him in court. The potential for contaminating the jury pool is mind-boggling. It would be nice to bring down Ronnie Earle on ethics charges. Such a thing could happen -- Tom DeLay is a tough fighter and Ronnie Earle just may have met his match.

Captain's Quarters writes that "NRO's Byron York notes that Earle has found others in violation of the law along the way, notably large corporations who have donated to DeLay campaign, forbidden by Texas law. Does he prosecute the corporations? Apparently only if they don't comply with the Ronnie Earle Clemency Program, which consists of demands for huge cash contributions to his own pet causes." This sounds an awful lot like Jesse Jackson, who accused Anheuser-Busch of racism, but relented when they gave one of his sons a lucrative beer distributorship in Chicago.

Now, National Review Online is reporting that Ronnie Earle has given a film crew permission to make a motion picture about his work on the DeLay case. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "show trial."

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."

It sounds like a good idea to keep the rule requiring House leaders to step down from their posts when indicted, but when prosecutorial powers are abused by two-bit partisan hacks like Ronnie Earle, one has to wonder whether we should allow single individuals to wield so much power as to change the face of government. One can imagine a situation whereby the Democrats find a dozen Ronnie Earle's throughout the country and wipe out the entire Republican leadership and damage their re-election chances by issuing bogus indictments that stand no chance in court. 

There's a lot of of dirty politics and -- dare I say conspiracy? -- going on down here in Texas.


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: bobbullock; bush; delay; dirtytricks; giblewis; jessejackson; kaybaileyhutchison; ronnieearle; tomdelay
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1 posted on 09/29/2005 4:25:28 PM PDT by DallasMike
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To: DallasMike

This clown has to be made to pay some sort of a huge price for this.


2 posted on 09/29/2005 4:29:47 PM PDT by tamalejoe
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To: DallasMike
Ronnie Earle is the most corrupt politician in Texas

To democrat, though, he probably looks downright normal...

3 posted on 09/29/2005 4:31:46 PM PDT by Migraine
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To: DallasMike

Kind of curious that the DNC had a the national phone bank campaign set up trying to link Republican Congress people with Delay. Kind of curious how the DNC had this all set up the day after the Delay incitement was announced. Couldn't be there was any coordination between Democrat Prosecutor Earle and the DNC about confidential Grand Jury testimony now could there? The fact that that would be a criminal act surely means the Dems would ever engage in such a "climate of corruption" right?




4 posted on 09/29/2005 4:32:38 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Don't get stuck on stupid now, reporters)
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To: MNJohnnie

Not only that, but the Democrat talking points this morning were that Bush would have to choose a "moderate" (and we all know what that means) because his administration is weakened by the "DeLay scandal."


5 posted on 09/29/2005 4:37:33 PM PDT by DallasMike
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To: DallasMike

See this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493826/posts?q=1&&page=1

Coming Soon:The Ronnie Earle Movie(prosecutor has let a film crew follow him through the case)
NRO ^ | Byron York



6 posted on 09/29/2005 4:41:52 PM PDT by RDTF
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To: MNJohnnie
Kind of curious that the DNC had a the national phone bank campaign set up trying to link Republican Congress people with Delay. Kind of curious how the DNC had this all set up the day after the Delay incitement was announced.

One of my favorite words:

Main Entry: col·lu·sion
Pronunciation: k&-'lü-zh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin collusion-, collusio, from colludere
: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose
- col·lu·sive /-'lü-siv, -ziv/ adjective
- col·lu·sive·ly adverb


For More Information on "collusion" go to Britannica.com

7 posted on 09/29/2005 4:42:50 PM PDT by backhoe
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To: DallasMike

D.A.'s are elected in California, too. Maybe it's time the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas took a long look at Mr. Earle and started assembling a few charges on him. Has this man EVER, EVER convicted anyone?

They were gloating about this over at the Daily Kaos, apparently unaware of this smarmy individual's history of putting "Look at Me indict this ham sandwich!" to the test. Some troll at LGF was saying that what a shame Karma was visiting the Repubs for what they did to Clinton. (I'm still trying to figure out how Karl Rove forced Clinton to commit perjury).


8 posted on 09/29/2005 4:43:16 PM PDT by Right Cal Gal (Armed, Female and Southern!)
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To: DallasMike; All
Crosslinked:

 The Persecution of Tom Delay

9 posted on 09/29/2005 4:44:19 PM PDT by backhoe
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To: DallasMike

> ... It sounds like a good idea to keep the rule requiring
> House leaders to step down from their posts when indicted,

Legacy media routinely reports this as a "House rule" when
it is no such thing. Only the GOP has it, as the Dems
recognize the risk of having it (a more severe risk in
their case).

Democrats are just like Al Qaeda: if you have any decency,
they will use it against you.


10 posted on 09/29/2005 4:48:23 PM PDT by Boundless
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To: DallasMike
"Ronnie Earle is the most corrupt politician in Texas"

You can tell because he has his own ".com" site (obviously a commercial enterprise - www.ronnieearle.com).

11 posted on 09/29/2005 5:06:40 PM PDT by Paladin2 (MSM rioted over Katrina and looted the truth)
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To: DallasMike

As Rush Limbaugh put it this morning- "this case will be thrown right back in the Democrats face."

One count of conspiracy with no evidence. I doubt that it will even make it to court. Look to see Earle get disbarred!


12 posted on 09/29/2005 5:11:19 PM PDT by jscottdavis_for_48th_district (J. Scott Davis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jscottdavisfanclub ... Hollywood's Next Action Hero)
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To: Paladin2

BTTT


13 posted on 09/29/2005 5:12:52 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 (My karma ran over my dogma.)
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To: Right Cal Gal
"D.A.'s are elected in California, too. Maybe it's time the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas took a long look at Mr. Earle and started assembling a few charges on him. Has this man EVER, EVER convicted anyone? "
Earle's record, as near as I can tell:
Kay Bay Hutchison-R (acquitted)
Jim Mattox-D (acquitted)
Gib Lewis-D (convicted)
Don Yarbrough-D (convicted)
Lane Denton-D (convicted)
Betty Denton-D (convicted)
Chris Stanwallis-R (convicted)
Mike Martin-R (convicted)

I'm still looking for the others, but that's what I've got so far.

14 posted on 09/29/2005 5:15:26 PM PDT by uberPatriot
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To: DallasMike
This can NOT be true! This has got to be a story from The Onion!

Earle gave permission for a MOVIE to be made about DeLay's investigation?/ Where the HELL is the OUTRAGE!!!! OMG...are we still in America?

15 posted on 09/29/2005 5:19:02 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion: The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: DallasMike


The case will not stand up. But the slamming in the MSM certainly will contaminate some ignorant voters. That is exactly the strategy here, and it's filthy politics and unfair.

Ronny Earle is doing the dirty work for the bigwig dems. He should be indicted himself.


16 posted on 09/29/2005 5:19:51 PM PDT by Bullish (Proudly and consistently hating the Clinton's since 1992)
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To: DallasMike

If you are upset by the grotesquely unethical behavior of the notorious Ronnie Earle, send an ethics complaint to the Texas Bar Association demanding he be disbarred.


For the required grievance form, download the document here:

http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/ethics/attydiscipline/howfile.html


Address to send it:

http://www.texasbar.com/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=3961&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm


17 posted on 09/29/2005 5:23:06 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember
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To: DallasMike

Amazing!


18 posted on 09/29/2005 5:35:50 PM PDT by Cricket24 ("We have met the enemy and it's the U.S. press (and the democrats)!")
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To: DallasMike

(the first such seat occupied by a Republican since 1875)



I believe Sen. John G. Tower had that honor.


19 posted on 09/29/2005 5:39:20 PM PDT by etcb
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To: DallasMike

What do 'Rats care about ethics? They thoroughly believe that laws were written so that they can use them as clubs to punish their political enemies.


20 posted on 09/29/2005 5:43:00 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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