(Ronnie) Earle (Travis County DA) Announces Retirement

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who has led that office since 1977, told his staff today that he will not seek re-election.

Earle, 65, will serve the one year remaining on his term, but his retirement will end an era.

"Is the district attorney's job an elective office?" Ken Oden, a former county attorney, once quipped about his friend's long tenure.

It would be his first statewide campaign — and a longshot at that — but it would give Earle, who has a populist streak, the opportunity to speak out on issues other than criminal justice. In court he once accused corporations of trying to buy state elections, likening them to robber barrons and facists.

Earle, a Fort Worth-area native, came to Austin in 1960 to attend the University of Texas. After law school, Earle, at 26, was named municipal judge, the youngest in the state at the time. He was elected to the Legislature in 1973, but three years later, running as a courthouse outsider, he became district attorney.

He was never content to just prosecute crimes. He created the first victims-assistance program in the state and gained a national reputation for community programs trying to address the causes of crime.

It was his role as prosecutor in the state capital, however, that made him a lightning rod. Earle investigated and prosecuted — to mixed results — public officials of both political parties. Most notably, at a 1994 trial, Earle abruptly abandoned his prosecution of Kay Bailey Hutchison on charges she misused her office of state treasurer before she was elected U.S. senator.

The incident didn't sidetrack either official's career, but Earle drew his first opponent since his initial election because of that botched prosecution. He easily won re-election.

His 2005 indictment of U.S. Majority Leader Tom DeLay as part of a broader investigation into corporate spending in Texas campaigns raised Earle's profile, but that money-laundering case is tied up in pre-trial appeals and might not be resolved before Earle leaves office. The courts have dismissed other indictments arising from the same 2002 campaign incidents.

For the past two months, would-be successors have been weighing a campaign as speculation grew that the longtime prosecutor would not seek re-election.

As many as half-a-dozen Democrats are mentioned as possible candidates. Three prosecutors from within Earle's office might make the race: Rick Reed, 52, who joined Earle's staff after losing a 1998 race for Dallas County district attorney; Gary Cobb, 46, who's been a prosecutor since 1990; and Mindy Montford, 37, who worked in the Harris County District Attorney's Office before joining Earle's staff in 1999. She is the daughter of former state Sen. John Montford.

Outside Earle's staff are two possible candidates: Jeanne Meurer, 54, retiring this year as state district judge; and Randy Leavitt, 53, a longtime defense attorney who became the first assistant county attorney in 2004.

If no Republican candidate surfaces, the race to be the county's next elected felony prosecutor will be a sprint. Early voting for the March 4 primaries begins Feb. 19.

Tom "still The Hammer" DeLay
"Democrats have no ideas, no leadership, no agenda, and no class.
They offer the Country nothing".

Free Republic Tom DeLay Threads

"The Hammer" launches new 501(c)(4) grass-roots action & advocacy organization
11.20.07-FR: DeLay Knocks GOP: "The leadership just isn't getting it"
11.17.07-FR: Tom DeLay and Ken Blackwell launch Coalition for a Conservative Majority (CCM)

No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight - by Tom DeLay with Stephen Mansfield; Hardcover: 208 pages; Publisher: Sentinel HC; Published: March 14, 2007; Language: English; ISBN-10: 1595230343; List Price: $25.95
Collection of Key ‘07 Tom Delay Book Interviews: Videos, Audios, Text:
May 04: by Front Page Magazine | Mar 20: by National Public Radio (Audio) | Mar 19: by National Review
Mar 20: by Focus on the Family, 'This is the Criminalization of Politics’
Mar 16: by Rush Limbaugh (Radio Transcript & FR Members Comments) | Second FR Thread on Limbaugh Interview
March 20: Video Interview - 1:07 hours
Tom DeLay, The Oxonian Society, Cornell Club, New York City, NY - CSpan2
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay(R-TX) discusses his political memoir, No Retreat, No Surrender. The book explores his time in the Texas legislature, his election to the U.S. Congress, his role in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, his opinions of other politicans, his political battles, and his religious beliefs. Tom DeLay (R-TX) served in the U.S. Congress from 1985 to 2006. He became Deputy Minority Whip in 1988, House Majority Whip in 1995 and House Majority Leader in 2003. In 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted Rep. DeLay for conspiring to use corporate money to elect a Republican majority in the Texas State House in 2002. The new Republican majority reorganized the state's congressional district map and five more Texas Republicans were elected to the U.S. House in 2004. Rep. DeLay resigned his seat in Congress in April 2006.

12.14.07-FR: Tom Delay nemesis Texas DA Ronnie Earle Announces Retirement (Jan 2009)
FR Threads: Ronnie "Soro's Shadow Party" & "Ultra Liberal Hack" Earle: Ronnie Earle | Earle

FlAttorney says: Like many elite level Tom DeLay supporters I have a love-loath relationship with the guy. But past is past. When it comes to understanding and acting on insiders high stakes politics Tom is still the king and a highly valued asset. I also think the guy is a political genus and a great communicator. He still has many very powerful connections, and Tom’s blog is excellent and a must read for anyone that cares about our great Country. As to Tom's Texas legal problems - The reason the Terry Schiavo case was lost was due to peculiarities in Florida laws that stacked the deck against her. Tom is in the same boat with peculiarities in the Texas Constitution that gives Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle (ultra liberal hack in ultra liberal Austin,TX) absurd and far reaching State powers. The Democrats-Soros Shadow Party is afraid of DeLay's power and will use puppet Earle to continue to tie him up in Court. The GOP majority controlled Texas Legislature has not been able to garner the votes necessary to change the Texas Constitution on this matter, and place Earle's powers under the State Attorney General-(Rep) where they belong. Further the Texas Legislature only convenes every other year with 2006 an off year.
Tom is 100% right that if the Republican Party doesn’t get off their dead and unorganized butts, they will lose control of the Federal Executive & Administrative branch in 2008 like they lost Congress in 2006. Like I, Tom understands how the Democrats have come from a party in shambles just five years ago to a very dangerous party - thanks to the Soros Shadow Party - that threatens the very fiber of our great Country. I can't express how dangerous these worthless bastards have become. Tom didn't fully understand how dangerous the Dems-SSP Klan was until they dragged him down and killed his Federal political career (TD hates being out of public politics). There is much going on behind the scenes with Tom that will bear significant fruit over the next 12 months. Stay tuned.

Source: FlAttorney's FR "Straight Talk" page

Posted for FlAttorney & Co. by TAB

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