Posted on 03/04/2006 7:30:22 AM PST by Dog Gone
AUSTIN - The criminal case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay is on hold before the Texas appeals courts, but prosecutors continue to issue subpoenas about DeLay's political controversies that are seemingly unrelated to the money-laundering charges against him.
"It's a publicity stunt," said DeLay lead attorney Dick DeGuerin of Houston. "At last count, there were 60 or something subpoenas."
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle says his investigation of DeLay's fundraising activities is continuing.
Earle did not respond to a Houston Chronicle request to explain how his subpoenas — ranging from records of a bribery case against a California congressman to how a dishonored lobbyist paid for DeLay's trip to Scotland — have anything to do with DeLay's political activities in Texas during the 2002 elections.
DeLay's lawyers and Republicans claim the subpoenas have no legitimate role in the criminal case and are merely designed to prompt bad publicity against the former U.S. House majority leader.
In Tuesday's Republican primary, DeLay of Sugar Land faces three challengers: Pat Baig, Tom Campbell and Michael Fjetland. Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson is unopposed in the Democratic primary, and former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman has filed as an independent.
Priest let stand money-laundering charges that accuse DeLay and two other men of allegedly conspiring to funnel illegal corporate money from Texans for a Republican Majority through the Republican National Committee to help finance seven candidates for the Texas House.
Earle immediately appealed Priest's ruling, bringing the criminal case against DeLay to a halt. The Texas Third Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case March 22.
Since the case went up on appeal, Earle has issued subpoenas for:
•Records of PerfectWave Technologies and its executives as they relate to the bribery case against former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. The only direct connection to the DeLay case is that PerfectWave gave $15,000 to TRMPAC in 2002, but the company is not among those listed in indictments as having made illegal contributions.
•Records of how convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff arranged for his lobby clients to pay for a DeLay trip to Scotland in 2000. One of the clients who paid for the Scottish trip — the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians — gave $1,000 to TRMPAC in 2001. The donation was legal.
•Abramoff's former employers, the law firms of Greenberg Traurig and Preston Gates Eillis & Rouvelas Meed, also have received subpoenas for records. Preston Gates gave a legal $25,000 to TRMPAC in 2002, but it was after Abramoff left the firm.
•Earle also wants records on a Federal Election Commission enforcement action against the National Republican Congressional Committee for illegally donating $500,000 in corporate money to a radio campaign against congressional Democrats in the 2000 election.
•While those records might show a pattern of conduct by DeLay and one of his co-defendants, Jim Ellis, legal experts interviewed by the Chronicle said Texas law makes it very difficult to introduce past acts at a trial.
•Earle also has subpoenaed bank records from the Republican Party of Texas covering August 2002 to January 2003.
Lawyers for DeLay, Ellis and TRMPAC Executive Director John Colyandro have said they raised the corporate money to give to the Texas party but sent it to the RNC in September 2002 because the state party did not need it. But the party records would show it was not accepting corporate money at that time because state law prohibited the party from raising corporate money after August.
"It's so far afield as to what the case is about, he (Earle) is just using it to generate stories," DeGuerin said.
DeGuerin said the subpoenas are not enforceable because the case is on appeal. He said he asked Priest to quash the subpoenas. An e-mail from Priest shows he declined because the case is before the appeals court, but Priest also said he will not enforce the subponeas against those persons and corporations that received them.
DeGuerin said he does not know if anyone has honored the subponeas by turning records over to Earle, though it would not surprise him if some had.
"You get a bunch of these namby-pamby civil lawyers representing companies and they see something that says subpoena and they just quake in their boots."
University of Texas law professor Samuel Buell and South Texas College of Law professor Susan Crump told the Chronicle they also thought it would be difficult for Earle to get evidence about Abramoff and other incidents into evidence in a trial against DeLay.
Buell said the evidence might be used to attack DeLay's credibility if he testifies in his own defense.
DeGuerin said he will fight any attempt to introduce evidence at trial not directly related to the case against DeLay.
Ronnie Earl is a Scumbag. This man is just infuriating.
Haman was so infuriated that Mordecai did not give him homage [bow down] that he went on a secret & underhanded quest to Kill all Hebrews in Persia.
And Mr. Earle (of course, "Mister" is too polite a title for the man) isjust so veangeful & wicked in his evil passion that.....
...I just somehow feel that his own life will be ruined as a result.
He is doing everything he possibly can to ruin DeLay's political career. It is the grossest case of prosecutorial misconduct I have ever seen.
Let's see, I think I still have some of my old 45s and 78s somewhere in the basement, maybe he could use those.
That is good as it will give the good Judge more than sufficient reason to throw out the entire case due to prosecutor's misconduct!
That is good as it will give the good Judge more than sufficient reason to throw out the entire case due to prosecutor's misconduct!
I'm not sure Earle cares whether he wins the case. He cares only about destroying DeLay.
The primary is Tuesday. Stay tuned.
I infer that you're not as confident about DeLay's chances as you were a few days ago.
Go, Campbell, Go
I don't know whether DeLay will win the primary or not since I haven't seen any polling data. Campbell certainly isn't going to win outright.
If I had to guess, DeLay wins the primary easily. But it's possible that he might finish first with less than a majority, forcing a runoff.
It's a pity that you're allied with Ronnie Earle in trying to get rid of DeLay.
That's cleary less confident than you were a few days ago.
It's a pity that you're allied with Ronnie Earle in trying to get rid of DeLay.
This seems to be the primary argument in favor of DeLay. We should vote for him precisely *because* he has been indicted. That argument still seems very strange to me.
I also think it is unwise for DeLay supporters to attack Campbell supporters. DeLay will need Campbell supporters in the general election. Suggesting that good Republican primary voters are influenced by Soros or Earle is insulting. Why can't they offer a positive reason to vote for DeLay and basically say Campbell is fine, but DeLay is better? DeLay will clearly underperform in the primary. He and his supporters already have a lot of fence mending to do to bring Republicans home for the general. It will be interesting to see what the DeLay Campaign's strategy will be after weeks of insults.
Campbell 48%; DeLay 38% Link
Weigh this poll as you like. They pushed voters into choosing DeLay or Campbell, ignoring the other candidates, so its predictive power may only be limited to the chances of going to a run-off.
I have since learned that Campbell did not commission the onenetinfo poll as the article suggests. Onenetinfo did the polling on their own accord.
It's not a change of position on my part. I still think he'll win, although I'm allowing for it to possibly require a runoff. Contested primaries are hard to predict when only 13% turnout is expected.
I don't have anything against Campbell. But I don't have anything against DeLay, either, and throwing him out to reward Ronnie Earle seems like asking for more of that in the future.
Campbell was right to file for the office when it wasn't clear what the political situation would be in March. DeLay conceivably could have withdrawn and we need a Republican representing that Republican district.
There's no fence-mending to be done. DeLay hasn't been insulting Campbell that I've seen, and Campbell has no hardcore constituency to be alienated. He's barely known.
Are you predicting that Campbell will finish higher than DeLay on Tuesday? Will he get more than 50%?
Ronnie knows he has to go fishing elsewhere to try to nail DeLay. This is one of the all time biggest political witch trials on record. Earle knows he's finished if he can't make anything stick to DeLay.
While I certainly hope Campbell does well, I am not emotional like the DeLay supporters. I believe I am quite rational in my prediction a couple of days ago. No need for clarification. Campbell has a near zero chance of winning outright and a 20% chance of forcing a runoff. DeLay has a zero percent chance of holding his opposition to what it won in previous primaries. In fact, the opposition will do considerably better than any time in recent history.
I'll excuse you because you don't live in SE Texas. But DeLay has certainly been very negative on Campbell. Link Furthermore, the DeLay campaign has said that unless a voter belongs to a local GOP organization and votes in every single primary, that voter is "nothing more than an outsider who isn't concerned with conservative issues or fighting for the priorities of Texas taxpayers". I observed at the time that that was not wise.
and Campbell has no hardcore constituency to be alienated.
Then why are you thinking there might be a runoff?
With a low voter turnout expected, anything can happen. Let's say just six percent of the registered voters support Campbell, but they all turn out to vote for him.
That would be close to an outright victory for Campbell, and certainly would force a runoff if voter turnout is 13% as predicted.
You and I arguing about it isn't going to change what will happen on Tuesday. Heck, I suspect half of those casting ballots have already voted. I have.
LOL!
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