Look up the word “Pardon” in a dictionary... In W’s place I’d have issued a blanket pardon for DeLay for any and all “crimes” which Ronnie Earle might have ever charged him with.
A president’s pardon power does not apply to local or state laws, only federal cases. GWB, for all his faults, and they are legion, had no authority to “pardon” DeLay, and DeLay would have had to admit “guilt” to receive a pardon. I still think that GWB is responsible for the election of his successor, and I will not read GWB’s memoirs.