Posted on 08/25/2010 11:04:24 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Tom DeLay says once his money-laundering trial is over - and he expects to win - he intends to go after the public integrity unit that brought his indictment in the first place. Under state law, the Travis County district attorney is authorized to prosecute corruption cases against Texas politicians. It's been doing it for years - prosecuting Attorney General Jim Mattox and House Speaker Gib Lewis (both Democrats) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (a Republican). But DeLay said Tuesday that when the unit targeted him, it went too far.
The public integrity unit is funded by the state. The way to kill it, presumably, would be to have the Legislature cut its funding. But first things first. DeLay's back in court this week, as we reported today. He's accused of illegally laundering $190,000 in corporate money to elect Republicans in the Texas Legislature in 2002. The maneuver, which he says was legal, gave the GOP a majority in the Texas House for the first time in a century and led to a DeLay-driven redistricting map benefitting Republicans. He, like his defense lawyers, had particularly harsh words for former Travis County DA Ronnie Earle, who brought the indictment in 2005. Earle's retired since then and his predecessor is prosecuting the case. Earle's a Democrat, DeLay's a Republican.
After this is over," DeLay said during a break in a pre-trial hearing in Austin, "we're going after the constitutionality of a locally elected district attorney that can go after federally elected people in Travis County. There's so much unconstitutional in this whole thing. We're not just going to give up with this trial. We're going to reform the justice system that allows this kind of thing to happen."
(Excerpt) Read more at trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com ...
Democrats use the legal system to destroy conservatives. It's what forced Sarah Palin to resign the governorship.
I sincerely hope that Tome DeLay fights dirty, unfairly, mean and hard against his enemies. Unless more conservatives are willing to do this, we’ll always lose.
The funny thing is that we can use the legal system against progressives.
The legal system? It has become so corrupted.
It’s more like a spider’s web of horror.
Yes, let's do like they do and file frivolous charges for the sole purpose of wearing them out.
Let's become what we hate.
maybe he can team up with Blago
Gee. I’m sure it is PURELY coincedental that this case which has sat dormant for nearly five years is SUDDENLY brought to life just 70 days before the mid-terms.
“OK, boys, lets fire up the dormant Republican Corruption meme, get that Delay case back on track, ...”
Delay (who has already won 2/3 of this trial by having large segments of it thrown out in court, and the Feds deciding not to proceed with the matching Federal prosecution) will be covered incessently. The news about Conyers wife going to the big house, the continuing revelations about Dodd’s sweatheart loans, etc.... DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE as fast as a news story can free-fall.
I’m sure this is being happily discussed on Journo-list V2.0 where ever that is.
Great! The clean-up of the Austin Political Machine is long overdue.
Good.
I’m still ticked so many Republicans and conservatives turned on him. The Republicans I understood since you don’t become that powerful without making enemies but conservatives? I know people didn’t like his K-Street projects or strongarming into big government entitlements at Bush’s request but allowing someone to be railroaded out of leadership on trumped up charges is to no one’s credit. Those people should have been ashamed of themselves. If you want someone removed from power, do it the right way. Don’t let the Left use vile means to do it for you.
I hope he wins.
While you are at it; Mr. DeLay, take your hammer and go after Congress and this administration.
How is that unconstitutional? Is he suggesting that it's unconstitutional for a cop (who works for the local government) to arrest a Congresscritter for drunk driving or shoplifting or whatever?
$190k? hell, tim geithner and tom daschle owed more than that in taxes till they were caught cheating. No penalty for them!
Let me give you an example, I live in New Mexico which has, as a portion of its State Constitution, the following:
| Article II, Section 6. |
|---|
| No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. (As amended November 2, 1971 and November 2, 1986.) |
Now, I don't know about you, but these seem pretty clear to me... as well as "un-losable," logically speaking. (The problem, IMO, is that of "precedence" which is the legal equivalent of the child's game telephone.)
I just want to see Ronnie Earle take an ass whoopin’!
Seems logical. But where are we going to find all those conservative judges? Even the judge who ruled on gay marriage was a Bush 1 appointee. The liberal takeover of the judiciary has been slow, steady, underhanded and stealthy.
Amen!
Shouldn't you be hiring a lawyer and getting at it?
“How is that unconstitutional? Is he suggesting that it’s unconstitutional for a cop (who works for the local government) to arrest a Congresscritter for drunk driving or shoplifting or whatever?”
I think a better analogy would be if an Austin cop came down to Houston, claimed that he saw someone shoplift in a store in Houston, arrested the individual, and then took the accused back to Austin for trial. And oh, by the way, the cop is known to dislike the individual arrested for shoplifting and the accused “shoplifter” had a receipt for the goods which were claimed to have been stolen.
Can you see a Constitutional issue with that? I can. Several — both Texas and US constitutions.
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