DeLay's Lawyer Subpoenas Grand Jury Members, as DA continues to defend his actions

AUSTIN - Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has defended himself against accusations of prosecutorial misconduct for going to multiple grand juries to obtain a money-laundering indictment against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay.

In court filings this week, Earle said taking the case to three separate grand juries was neither improper nor illegal, and he opposed efforts by DeLay's attorneys to obtain access to information about secret grand jury proceedings. (But Earle's grand jury polling and results presentation is highly illegal - fla)

1.) DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, countered late Thursday by issuing subpoenas for several grand jury members to testify at a pretrial hearing Tuesday.

There was no immediate response from Earle. But assistant District Attorney Carl Bryan Case Jr., in a brief filed earlier Thursday, told the presiding judge that DeLay's earlier efforts to subpoena the district attorney and two staffers "seems to be a publicity stunt and not a true attempt to discern the facts of what happened." (Gee, a new Earle ADA mouthpiece on the scene. One Earle staff attorney has quit over this Ronnie scam, and DeGuerin has already subpoenaed Earle's two primary ADA's, with one stating publicly that none of Earle's ADA's/lawyers wanted to persue this bogus DeLay charge. - fla)

2) The district attorney's office also filed written arguments against DeLay's motion to have his trial transferred from Austin to Fort Bend County, his home.

Asks For Dismissal - - On the misconduct accusations, DeGuerin has asked visiting state District Judge Pat Priest to throw out charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering against DeLay. DeGuerin contends that Earle and his prosecutors violated grand jury secrecy and improperly influenced a grand jury to indict DeLay. DeGuerin had complained to Priest that Earle had not responded to his allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and said he would not be able to pursue the matter at Tuesday's hearing unless Priest authorized him to interview grand jury members.

The indictment alleges DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and two associates were involved in a scheme to send $190,000 in corporate money to the Republican National Committee in exchange for legal donations to seven Texas House candidates in 2002. Texas law bans corporate donations to candidates. DeLay, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro deny any wrongdoing. The indictment was returned during a flurry of activity by prosecutors between Sept. 28 and Oct. 3. DeLay originally was indicted Sept. 28 by a grand jury whose term was expiring on a charge of conspiracy to violate state election law. But DeGuerin raised questions about whether the conspiracy statute applied to state election law prior to 2003. That prompted Earle to ask a second grand jury on Sept. 29 and 30 to indict DeLay on money laundering charges. That grand jury declined and returned a no-bill favoring DeLay.

Grand Jury Controversy - - DeGuerin has accused prosecutors of trying to keep that no-bill secret. (Prima facia evidence. The 2nd GJ No-Bill was NOT filed on a proper and timely basis by Earle's office. It was only filed after the 3rd GJ indicted DeLay, (within 3 hours of originally be convened) with Earle using polling data before the 3rd GJ from the 1st GJ, but not the 2nd . There's no controversy, it's highly illegal on face value - fla)

Earle, in a court filing by Case Jr., said the no-bill was turned over to the court clerk as soon as it was returned. (Outright fraudulent statement - fla). "The prosecutors did nothing to conceal the no-bill from the public," Case's brief said. During the weekend of Oct. 1-2, prosecutors called members of the first grand jury to ask them whether they would have considered a money-laundering indictment against DeLay. Case noted that the grand jury had originally returned money-laundering indictments against Ellis and Colyandro in 2004.

Case said the former grand jurors were called to tell them there might be a technical problem with their original indictment and to ask whether they would have considered money-laundering charges against DeLay. Case said the grand jurors also were reminded "not to talk to anyone" regarding anything that transpired in the grand jury. Former Foreman William Gibson had told an Austin radio station that Earle had encouraged him to talk to the news media about the DeLay case.

A third grand jury returned the money-laundering indictment against DeLay on Oct. 3. Case said prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury but were not there when it deliberated the charges against DeLay, Ellis and Colyandro. DeGuerin had accused Earle, a Democrat, of trying to "coerce" an indictment against DeLay. Case denied that.

He also said that DeGuerin had failed to present a sufficient cause to "pierce grand jury secrecy." As an alternative, he proposed that the judge could require the grand jury forepersons to privately answer the defendant's questions in the judge's chambers.

>>>Elsewhere Tuesday, a Minnesota jury acquitted a former state GOP chairman of charges similar to those against DeLay. Ron Eibensteiner had been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of violating Minnesota's ban on corporate money by forwarding a $15,000 corporate donation to the Republican National Committee and having the money returned to a gubernatorial candidate. <<<

(This is good news, because unlike DeLay, the prosecutors had documents nailing Eibensteiner. It looked pretty cut and dried from a review of the documents. Eibensteiner was careless. Another win against the Dems Soros~Shadow Party Mob. Further, Earle's ADA monkeys have already admitted in Court that they have NO specific document nailing DeLay in the $190,000 criminal indictments. It already of Court record. - fla)

Soros Fingerprints on DeLay Frame-up
By Richard Poe
FrontPageMagazine.com | October 10, 2005

THREE SEPARATE FORCES are attacking Congressman Tom DeLay. Outwardly, these forces seem independent. On closer inspection, however, we find that all three have something in common. All have significant links to leftwing billionaire, Democrat kingmaker and convicted insider trader George Soros. (1)

The first of these attackers is Texas prosecutor Ronald Earle, who has indicted DeLay for alleged violations of state campaign finance laws. The second attacker is Republican Senator John McCain, whose Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is probing certain of DeLay's associates for their dealings with Indian casino interests. (2) The third attacker is a network of bogus "ethics watchdog" groups, activist organizations, fundraising groups and paid media hatchet-men, all working together in tight coordination to fan the flames of anti-DeLay hysteria. DeLay calls this network a "leftwing syndicate", but the term "Soros Noise Machine" may describe it more precisely.(3)

All three of DeLay's leading foes have ties to Soros and to his political machine — ties of sufficient strength as to cast doubt on their motivations.

Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle has a long history of abusing prosecutorial power in the service of political patrons. (4) His best-known patron is former Texas governor Ann Richards. (5) The Richards family is tightly bound to the Soros machine. Governor Richards was an early champion of Soros' campaign finance reform movement. Her daughter, Cecile Richards, heads America Votes, an umbrella group of leftwing get-out-the-vote organizations which the Soros machine launched and funded in 2003.(6)

Senator John McCain is allied even more closely with Soros. In 1994, Soros and a cabal of leftwing foundations undertook a $140-million crusade to pressure Congress into passing what is now known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) or, more popularly, the McCain-Feingold Act.(7)

McCain rode Soros’ coattails to media celebrity. Campaign finance reform made him the darling of Washington’s press corps. Carrying Soros’ water also brought financial benefits. Soros’ Open Society Institute has donated generously to McCain’s Reform Institute for Campaign and Election Issues. (8)

The Soros Noise Machine

Tom DeLay’s most dangerous and persistent foe is the network of "public interest" non-profit groups and corrupt media hacks which together constitute the Soros Noise Machine. Ronnie Earle and John McCain may or may not succeed in making their charges against DeLay stick. But, as long as Soros and his donor network keep pouring money into the Soros Noise Machine, it will continue pounding DeLay, year after year, with a ceaseless drumbeat of accusations, in the form of books, films, press releases, push polls and TV ad campaigns.

DeLay's most vocal accusers include a cluster of self-styled "ethics watchdog" groups, among which Common Cause, Democracy 21, Public Citizen, Public Campaign and The Campaign Legal Center have special prominence.(9)

All of the above-named groups have received large contributions from Soros' Open Society Institute. Common Cause has received $650,000; Democracy 21, $300,000; Public Citizen, $275,000; and Public Campaign, $1.3 million.(10) The Campaign Legal Center acknowledges on its Web site that it too has received "generous financial support" from the Open Society Institute as well as from other leftwing foundations.

In March of this year, the activist group Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) joined forces with the Public Campaign Action Fund to launch a $75,000 TV ad campaign in targeted Congressional districts, portraying Tom DeLay as corrupt.

Both partners in the anti-DeLay ad campaign have received heavy funding from Soros. CAF — a subsidiary of the Institute for America's Future (IAF) — has received more than $300,000 from Soros’ Open Society Institute. The other partner, the Public Campaign Action Fund, is an affiliate of the afore-mentioned Public Campaign, which has received $1.3 million from Soros.(11)

The propaganda din from Soros-sponsored "watchdog" groups helps feed the ever-hungry media with anti-Delay stories.

The Soros Book Machine

The Soros Noise Machine also struck through an investigative book called The Hammer: God, Money and the Rise of the Republican Congress, written by two Texas journalists named Lou Dubose and Jan Reid.

Co-author Dubose appears as a commentator in the still-unfinished documentary film The Big Buy, in which leftwing filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck chronicle Ronnie Earle’s pursuit of Tom DeLay.(12)

Dubose's and Reid's book The Hammer was published in October 2004 by Public Affairs Books of New York, an imprint of The Perseus Books Group, which in turn is owned by Perseus LLC, a merchant bank and fund management company, with offices in New York and Washington, DC.

The chairman and CEO of Perseus LLC, Frank H. Pearl, also happens to be the founder and chairman of Perseus Books. More to the point, Mr. Pearl and Mr. Soros are business partners, whose collaborations include such ventures as Perseus-Soros Management LLC, Perseus-Soros Partners LLC and Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund.

Given the close partnership between these two men, we should hardly be surprised to learn that Mr. Pearl's Public Affairs book imprint — the same imprint which published the anti-DeLay title The Hammer — also happens to have published many books by George Soros, including The Crisis of Global Capitalism, Underwriting Democracy, George Soros on Globalization, The Bubble of American Supremacy and the forthcoming George Soros on Freedom.

Transparency

The money trail strongly suggests that George Soros is implicated in the plot to frame Tom DeLay.

Before we allow a crooked county prosecutor to unseat one of America's valued leaders, it behooves us to investigate further. We must demand of Mr. Soros what he and his hired retainers have long demanded of Tom DeLay — transparency and accountability.

No longer can we allow wealthy puppeteers to manipulate our government from the shadows. It is time to flood those shadows with light.

______________________________

NOTES

1. Marc Morano, "Soros Conviction for Insider Trading Upheld in French Court," Cybercast News Service (CNSnews.com), March 24, 2005

2. Lou Dubose, "Senatorial Courtesy: Will John McCain Let Republican Perps Walk?", The Texas Observer, August 26, 2005

3. Sharon Kehnemul Liss, "DeLay Blasts `Leftwing Syndicate'", FoxNews.com, April 20, 2005; Richard Poe, "The Soros Noise Machine," MoonbatCentral.com, March 20, 2005

4. Andrew C. McCarthy, "Ronnie Earle Should Not be a Prosecutor", National Review Online, October 6, 2005; Byron York, "Dollars for Dismissals," National Review Online, June 20, 2005; Peter Flaherty, "Texas Smear Machine Targets DeLay", Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com), September 23, 2004

5. "Hammer Time: Ronnie Earle Finally Gets His Man," The Wall Street Journal Online (OpinionJournal.com), September 29, 2005

6. S.C. Gwynne,"The Daughter Also Rises",Texas Monthly, August 2004, p 112; David Horowitz and Richard Poe, "The Shadow Party" (Parts I-III), FrontPageMagazine.com, October 6, 7, 11, 2004

7. Cliff Kincaid, "George Soros and the Press", Accuracy in Media (AIM.org), April 13, 2005; Ed Morrisey, "Inside McCain's Reform Institute", Captain's Quarters, March 9, 2005; Richard Poe, "John McCain Gets Soros Cash," MoonbatCentral.com, March 10, 2005

8. Richard Poe, "Pewgate: Battle of the Blogosphere," FrontPageMagazine.com, March 25, 2005

9. Alexander Bolton, "Watchdogs in Soros's Pocket: GOP," The Hill (CNSnews.com), March 23, 2005; Michelle Malkin, "Wobbly Watchdogs," michellemalkin.com, June 22, 2004

10. "The Soros Agenda: Free Speech for Billionaires Only," The Wall Street Journal Online (OpinionJournal.com), January 3, 2004

11. Anne E. Kornblut, "DeLay's Critics are Numerous, So He Sees a Conspiracy," San Francisco Chronicle, October 2, 2005

12. Byron York, "Coming Soon, the Ronnie Earle Movie," National Review Online, September 29, 2005; Byron York, "The Movie: Ronnie Earle on a Mission from God," National Review Online, September 30, 2005

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