Posted on 11/24/2010 3:18:25 PM PST by Non-Sequitur
For five years, the case against Tom DeLay for money laundering through his Texans for a Republican Majority PAC has been seemingly trapped in the Texas courts facing pre-trial appeals. On November 1, it finally made it to trial and today the verdict is in: guilty on both money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The slightly-less-than-humble DeLay lost his majority leadership in Congress after the indictment came down, but he has maintained his claims that this case was politically motivated throughout the entire process right up to defense attorney Dick DeGuerin's closing arguments.
The jury clearly didn't buy his argument and now DeLay is potentially facing life in prison on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. DeLay is accused of channeling $190,000 in corporate money through his Texans for a Republican Majority PAC in 2002 to aid GOP candidates.
Charlie Rangel
how is this praiseworthy? ...
it is against state law, for corparations to
give to state political campaigns.
... DeLay steps in, to isolate the
corps from direct contact with the political campaigns
......................
Btw, what Rangel et al did...
tax cheating or theft for personal gain.
is completely different than breaking campaign laws
It sounds like a picky point of accounting, at worst. DeLay had $190K of private funds in his PAC. Corporations added $190K more. Delay accounted for the two sums separately within the PAC and doled out the private $190K to purposes that could only be funded privately, keeping the corporate funds for some unspecified future use. The Rat railroaders got fuming mad that Delay did not commingle the funds which of course would bar any of them from being used.
Someone else said you get 10 peremptory strikes in Texas. If the incoming jury pool in Rat-infested Austin (capitals seem to attract rats like garbage does) is 80% screaming liberal and 10% “moderate” what can ya do?
Only way this could look like the crime it was charged to be, is if the corporate $190K was given back to the donors of the private $190K.
Oh, and I’d add to my previous post, even if he knew the RNC would give the money back to Texas candidates, so what? Unless they are saying the RNC is also guilty of money laundering, which they are not, I don’t see how they even had a case.
This is a freaking travesty. The only crime hear was the partisan prosection. This ought to make every shiver at what misjustice can happen in America.
Plea bargain
Yeah, ask to be railroaded with a smaller train.
What is odd to me is that it apparently was just fine for the corporations to donate to DeLay. It wasn’t illegal for him to have the money.
For some reason it’s illegal for him, with money that’s on record, to turn around and give that money to someone else.
Where is the harm in that? Seriously, I keep trying to figure out what’s hurtful, harmful, injurious about that, and I just keep drawing a blank. Who, in reality, is hurt when DeLay gives money to BobbyJoCandidate, and how are they hurt?
And how is Charles Rangel who clearly dodged taxes by hiding money that should have been accountable, getting a scolding for a clearly illegal act, but Tom DeLay is liable for 99 years in prison for an act that I can’t figure out the harm in?
If it were a clean pass-through, that would be nixed by Texas law on campaign finance (with some 60 day window involved). But it wasn’t.
The modern phenomenon of “felony-flation” also stinks. It used to be that the only crimes that were felonies were those for which one could be hanged or otherwise executed. These accordingly tended to be extremely heinous acts (with the occasional inclusion, odd to modern sensibilities, of things like stealing somebody’s horse). What happened shouldn’t even be called a crime, let alone a felony.
What I don’t understand about the US legal system is how you can get so much prison time for financial crimes, when murderers can walk after a couple of years. This type of offence in Canada wouldn’t get you more than 2 years and likely far less. The American legal system puts more value on money than human life. Bizarre.
My problem with this whole show trial...
DeLay’s First Indictment was some sort of illegal campaign something.. in texas the “crime” was committed in either 92 or 93... yet the law Making that action a crime was signed in TX one year LATER .. (either 93 or 94)... so I don’t trust anything out of that court.
I’m in Austin. I’m following the case. What I mean is he’ll be the rats last whipping boy for a long time, so they’re going to punish him for all injuries past and future.
If here were a democrat, there would not even be a trial.
One way or another W. could have stopped the persecution of Tom DeLay. The fact that he didn’t is intolerable and leaves me with zero respect for W.
They get (gasp, Lord have mercy) "CENSURED!!!" if they are still sitting lawmakers.
Oh the humanity...
Thats my understanding too. DeLay was charged and convicted of breaking a law that did not yet exist.
If that is true, this is REALLY bad. From now on any one of us can be convicted for breaking laws before such laws existed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.