Posted on 11/17/2004 10:58:25 AM PST by freepatriot32
WASHINGTON (Nov. 17) - House Republicans wrestled Wednesday with ways to keep Rep. Tom DeLay as majority leader in the event he is indicted by Texas grand jury that has brought charges against three of his political associates.
Meeting several hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, GOP members discussed compromises that would try to insulate their leader without giving blanket protection to party leaders indicted on felony charges.
DeLay, R-Texas, called the campaign finance investigation in Travis County, Texas a partisan attack on him, even though there has been no indication that he faces an indictment.
A House Republican rule requires that GOP leaders step down if indicted on charges that could bring a prison term of at least two years. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, has proposed that this step-aside rule apply only to federal felony indictments.
That plan ran into immediate trouble, several law makers said, when questions were raised about protecting members who hypothetically could be indicted for murder or other charges that would clearly be non-political. The Republican lawmakers then considered a compromise that would not distinguish between federal and state indictments, but would have the Republican Steering Committee- a group of more than two dozen members - determine whether an indictment was frivolous.
Under this proposal, the steering committee would have to make a decision in 30 days and the indicted leader would have to step aside temporarily while the committee deliberated.
The House Republican Conference, consisting of all House Republicans, would likely make the final decision on whether the leader had to relinquish his or her post.
The grand jury is probing alleged irregularities in 2002 state legislative races. Republican victories in those contests enabled DeLay ultimately to win support for a congressional redistricting plan that resulted in the GOP's gain of five House seats in Texas in this month's elections.
House Democrats have a step-aside provision that applies to both federal and state proceedings similar to the current Republican rule, and their leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, was highly critical of the GOP proposal.
''If they make this rules change, Republicans will confirm yet again that they simply do not care if their leaders are ethical. If Republicans believe that an indicted member should be allowed to hold a top leadership position in the House of Representatives, their arrogance is astonishing,'' Pelosi said.
In September, the grand jury indicted three political operatives associated with DeLay and eight companies, alleging campaign finance violations related to corporate money spent in the 2002 legislative races. The corporate donations were made to Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee created with help from DeLay.
DeLay said he was not questioned or subpoenaed as part of the investigation, led by retiring prosecutor Ronnie Earle.
The majority leader said after the indictments, ''This has been a dragged-out 500-day investigation, and you do the political math. This is no different than other kinds of partisan attacks that have been leveled against me that are dropped after elections.''
In October, the House ethics committee rebuked DeLay for appearing to link political donations to a legislative favor and improperly persuading U.S. aviation authorities to intervene in the Texas redistricting dispute.
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Associated Press Writer Suzanne Gamboa contributed to this report
From Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting on Republican DeLay Decision: "After undermining the political process for his own personal political ambitions, Tom DeLay has now persuaded his own colleagues to vote against their own mainstream values. The only values DeLay and his cronies stand for are greed and corruption."
I read that DeLay stayed quiet and his colleagues brought this about on their own!
If a demonrats lips are moving, it's lying.
True enough. I think there WILL be some damage infliction by those outlets that don't want to tell the WHOLE story. But the alternative - holding the entire congress hostage to any prosecutor's whim - is the worse evil.
Thank God the MSM failed in 2004!
that pissant DA woulda died by duel once upon a time.
i'da put my $$$ on DeLay...he looks tuff.
Dumb Ass Rat Earle. or...
The "Deusch of Earl"
lol!! I can hear the crying from a mile away
Agreed. And views such as this are the main problem I have with many in this forum:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1157698/posts?page=20#20
This view [party before country and cause] is destructive to conservatism and to the country...and frankly it is getting to be a very tiresome excuse for not doing the right thing...especially now that Bush has won his conservative mandate.
If DeLay is not indicted, or is indicted and acquitted, then NO BIG DEAL. If he is proven to have committed a crime, then the Republicans MIGHT have a problem. It's all just inside chatter now...
According to Michael Barone .. THE DEMS HAVE A SIMILAR PROVISION IN THEIR RULES. How about them apples. I guess it's okay for the dems but not Tom Delay.
Its a back-handed slap at Travis County Democrat DA Ronnie Earle. We all know all the roads in Texas lead to and end in Travis, the Black Hole Of Texas.
I'm shocked, shocked, I say!
--NOT!
HF
..BUSH WON!!>>FOUR MORE YEARS>>WOO HOO!!!
You are not alone.
The old rule was not flexible enough to separate the wheat from the chaff when it came to indictments. In the famous words of Webster Hubbell, "a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich," and it is an open secret that the county prosecutor in Austin is seeking to indict Tom DeLay for some trumped-up charge in retaliation for DeLay successfully convincing the Texas legislature to adopt a congressional redistricting plan that changed the Texas delegation to the House of Representatives from 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans to 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
I heard Michael Barone say it as a member of Brit Hume's "panel" yesterday. I don't know if there is any kind of transcript for Special Report.
This from the article posted above. Depends on the meaning of similar?
Ok for the dims but not pubbies,according to Pelosee?
Help, help! I don't understand.
Add that grand juries generally follow the lead of the DA, leaving it to the trial jury to hash out the matter.
I like Tom Delay and I doubt he will be indicted. Nevertheless, this rule was passed because the Democratic leaders at the time were actually criminals. It was a good rule and it should stand. We have to be on the right side of things, even if it is occasionally inconvenient. That is what makes us different from THEM. And it would have zilch effect on daily business: Delay effectively ran the Republican caucus in the House long before he had the title, and he still could, and even if there is an indictment, it will be revealed for the partisan attack that it is. A man who has done nothing illegal has nothing to fear, and a job title is not that important. It is better to do the right thing.
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