Posted on 10/04/2005 5:46:05 PM PDT by Michael Goldsberry
"After two years of investigating and multiple grand juries, Travis County's Democrat, District Attorney Ronnie Earle, finally found 12 gullible, liberal Austinites to believe the garbage he has been spewing about our Congressman. Just as Earle attacked Sen. Hutchison in the early 1990's, he has now turned his attacks on Congr-essman DeLay," says Eric Thode, chairman of the Fort Bend County Republican Party.
Thode was reacting to last week's indictment of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, who stepped down as House Majority Leader.
The Republican Party of Fort Bend County stands behind Congressman DeLay 100 percent and the Executive Committee proudly voted unanimously in favor of a resolution extending its support.
Asked in case DeLay is found guilty after trial, who is likely to succeed him among the Republicans and would Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace be among the aspirants, Thode said if ever DeLay is forced to resign, there are a lot of people in Harris County and Fort Bend County who will be willing to run for his seat and it will be a wide open race.
"It is not going to happen," he said, namely DeLay won't quit.
Nick Lampson who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for DeLay's Congre-ssional Dist. 22 released a statement regarding the indictment.
Lampson's campaign manager Mike Malaise said "This is not simply a political matter. A grand jury of his fellow Texans indicted Tom DeLay on this very serious charge. The trial of Tom DeLay will show what the former Majority Leader has been doing instead of working for his district back home. Whether he is convicted or not, it will become clear to the voters of this district that he has not been working for them."
"Nick Lampson will continue campaigning as he has been doing. He will introduce himself to the voters of Southeast Texas and try to earn their vote. Congressman Lampson thinks it is not enough to be the anti-DeLay. He is working hard to show the voters of this district that he has a positive agenda with a record to be proud of and he is a positive alternative to Congressman DeLay," Malaise said.
Some legal analysis quoted in defense of DeLay suggest that there are problems with Earle's case because to contrive jurisdiction over DeLay, Earle charges that DeLay may have known about the transaction before it occurred, he was therefore part of a conspiracy. However, Earle's office has sworn testimony and other exculpatory evidence showing that DeLay did not have knowledge of the transaction.
Also, no corporation or labor organization was indicted in this conspiracy.
Neither Jim Ellis nor John Colyandro is a corporation or labor organization. No corporation or labor organization made a contribution during 60 days of an election.
The defense analysts says what constitutes a contribution under the Texas Election Code is not strictly defined. Corporations in Texas could have legally made contributions to the Republican National Committee during the period in question under Texas election law. There was no violation of the Texas Election Code. There was no conspiracy. The underlying transaction was legal. Had corporations sent money directly to the RNC, the transaction would be legal. How could anyone conspire to do indirectly what could legally have been done directly, analysts ask.
Don Bankston, former chairman of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party and campaign coordinator for the group Fort Bend Democrats says DeLay has had a long line of problems and "it shows that we need a new congressman. DeLay is an embarrassment to our county as his name reminds us all of abuse of power and corruption."
Bankston said more than the conspiracy charge, the state's failure to pass school finance bill and a property tax reform bill are directly attributable to the big corporations which donated heavily to DeLay's funds and those corporations want something in return, namely a veto of the bills passed.
"Politically DeLay is dead and he would have lost the election even without an indictment," Bankston said.
Bankston also felt that Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey should have investigated DeLay for the alleged violation of the election code.
Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace said DeLay had been very helpful to Sugar Land and he has done several positive things.
"DeLay, the people of Sugar Land, the Travis County DA, all want this to get behind us soon," Wallace said. Asked if he was among the aspirants to DeLay's Congressional seat, if he is convicted, Wallace said he would not speculate on the outcome of the case.
On Friday, "United for DeLay" rally was held in support of DeLay at the Hess Club on Westheimer. Several Fort Bend area politicians were among those attending, along with congressional and state party leaders. "It was just uplifting, heart warming and humbling," DeLay said after the rally.
Reiterating that he had done nothing wrong, DeLay said on his quitting from the house leadership, "I lost just a title."
My guess is in your e-mail.
Even helped trained a few fresh out of law school.
Looks like Ronnie's gonna be neck deep in a Mark Levin Yankee Cowpie real soon.
WOOHOO!!!
I saw a saying today that made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes.
Vote yes on Abortion and in ten years there will be no Democratic Party.
"... Predictably, the Repubs, like a punch-drunk boxer, are standing in the ring, trying to ward off blows instead of landing ones of their own."
nailed it.
Better yet: Vote yes on abortiona and GAY MARIAGE and in ten years there will be no Democratic Party.
Your right I forgot that part. Darn sometimers is getting to me.
I think the strategists at the DNC wanted a distraction from the hurricane blame game because the blame was about to come home to roost on their shoulders.
The fact that DeLay is likely going to get off because the charge is so broad and the evidence so weak, and the lack of a body (no law was actually broken) - this fact will only play into their talking points.
The MSM will hide the fact that the charges were false, and will put the Democrat faces on the screen to talk about Teflon Tom and how the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy mobilized to get him off the hook.
Standard operating procedures.
I'm off to the shower, letting the dog out, feeding the cats and off to bed for the PM.
0430 comes way too fast these days.
More prayers answered. Please keep us up to date. Having a brother who is criminal attorney gives you an inside look.
I was heartened by his view of this case. Thank you.
"Earle get what he deserves. Like a job flippin' burgers."
Much too good for Earle, he needs to be sent back to the farm and put in charge of the hog lot.
The law should be applied equally. If the Dems have also done this, then they should face indictments.
He needs to do more than quit. He needs to roll over on Earle.
you are soooo right!!
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