Free Republic

On Wednesday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Bob Schieffer reminded viewers how “we reported last night that a group of House Republicans was ready to start proceedings to permanently remove Tom DeLay from the House leadership because of his indictment on campaign money laundering charges. Well, the Republicans held a closed-door meeting today, but there was no effort to remove DeLay, who has stepped down temporarily until the case is resolved.” Indeed, on Tuesday’s newscast Gloria Borger claimed that “tomorrow morning, House Republicans are going to meet behind closed doors and they are going to tell their leaders in no uncertain...

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) yesterday dismissed the notion that House Republicans would try to oust him permanently from leadership. Speaking shortly before a second potential candidate withdrew his name from consideration, DeLay said, “The conference knows what’s going on. There’s no leadership race.” He made his comments when asked by The Hill whether he would try to persuade members to hold off on a race to replace him. He told a small group of reporters in the Capitol basement, “You all know there is no leadership race. You all are creating a leadership race.” Just hours later, Republican Study Committee...

" ...the legal – legal hurdle for Ronnie Earle got steeper today." – National Public Radio's Mara Liasson "I agree with all of that, and my guess is that DeLay will survive this." – Roll Call's Mort Kondracke "Let's give credit to DeLay though for winning this one today....I don't think...Ronnie Earle has a very good chance at all of proving all of these things that DeLay was involved in all of this. It just isn't going to happen." – The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes Yesterday, a Texas judge made the decision to throw out the first indictment leveled against...

- Gerrymander Slander - On the question of minority voting rights, neither Republicans nor Democrats are covered in glory. In the latest chapter, House Democrats, led by California’s Nancy Pelosi, have gone ballistic over a leaked Department of Justice memorandum which concluded that the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act. Pelosi has called for an independent inquiry into “the contemptible politicization of the Justice Department to rubberstamp Congressman Tom DeLay's illegal redistricting scheme” Illegal? Gee, we thought that when a federal three-judge panel decided after a lengthy trial that the plan was constitutional, that also meant...

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is seeking election reports filed by the Republican National State Elections Committee in New Jersey, in connection with the conspiracy and money-laundering case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. Earle’s office on Tuesday directed the Travis County District Clerk to issue a subpoena for quarterly receipt-and-expenditure reports filed by the RNSEC for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Other than the fact the RNSEC is alleged to have played a role in events that led to DeLay’s conspiracy indictment, it’s unclear why Earle is seeking the New...

AUSTIN -- No one disputes that it's been illegal for years to launder money in Texas. But could it be done with a check? The answer to that question could determine whether former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay faces trial on political-corruption charges or sees the indictments thrown out without spending another day in court. At issue is a $190,000 check dated Sept. 13, 2002, and sent to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington. It was drawn on the account of the political-action committee Texans for a Republican Majority, which DeLay helped found and which is at...

11.22.05 - For more than three hours Tuesday, the defense team fired a barrage of objections to the indictments. "No crime occurred," DeGuerin said in his opening remarks, "and no crime is charged." The defense team argued that Texans for a Republican Majority legally raised the corporate money, then donated $190,000 of it to the RNC, where it could legally be spent in 26 states that allow corporate money in campaigns. On the other hand, the team argued that the RNC's $190,000 - raised from individuals from around the country - was legally given to Texas candidates. "It wasn't the...

The attorneys for Tom DeLay and Ronnie Earle are battling it out in the courtroom today over a motion to dismiss. I should point out that a motion to dismiss is almost always filed by the defendant but is seldom granted by judges, the theory being that a District Attorney would not file a case without reasonable cause and that the court is the proper venue for determining whether the facts and the law are actually applicable. Personally, I would be very surprised if the motion to dismiss is granted. If it is, then Ronnie Earle should quietly resign his...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Rep. Tom DeLay will have to wait for a decision on whether conspiracy charges against him will be dropped without a trial, a judge said Tuesday. At a hearing, Senior Judge Pat Priest said he wanted to read written responses from both sides before making his ruling, and didn't say how long it might take. The hearing on various motions was continuing Tuesday. DeLay, fighting to regain his post as House majority leader, appeared in court before Priest for the first time as his legal team tried to get the charges accusing him of violating state...

- - Like DeLay's committee, groups run by 30 other members of Congress took corporate money and transferred funds to national party accounts - - WASHINGTON, November 21, 2005 — Hours after Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was indicted by a Texas grand jury, he went on national television to refute the charges and to tell viewers that he was not alone: other members of Congress had made transactions similar to those that led to his prosecution. DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury in late September on charges of conspiracy to violate state campaign finance laws, which prohibit the...

- War of Words and Subpoenas Continues in DeLay case - AUSTIN - Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has defended himself against accusations of prosecutorial misconduct for going to multiple grand juries to obtain a money-laundering indictment against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. In court filings this week, Earle said taking the case to three separate grand juries was neither improper nor illegal, and he opposed efforts by DeLay's attorneys to obtain access to information about secret grand jury proceedings. (But Earle's grand jury polling and results presentation is highly illegal - fla) 1.) DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin of Houston,...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Rep. Tom DeLay's trial on conspiracy and money laundering charges should stay in Austin despite the former House majority leader's attempt to move it to his home county, a Texas prosecutor argued in court documents filed Thursday. DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin has requested that the trial be moved out of Travis County, contending that because the allegations involve election code violations, the proceedings should be moved to Fort Bend County, the GOP-leaning county where DeLay was voted into office. But Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle argued that the allegations are criminal charges, not election code...

The Republican Party of Texas avoided prosecution by reaching an agreement Thursday with the Travis County attorney in an investigation into how the GOP spent $5.7 million in corporate money during the 2002 state elections. Texas Republicans agreed to stop spending corporate money in some of the ways they did in that election cycle, including expenditures on political consulting, issue advertising and get-out-the-vote activity such as telephone banking. That GOP spending >>may<< have violated the Texas Election Code, Travis County Attorney David Escamilla said. (Escamilla was publicly against the Texas Constitutional ban against Same-Sex Marriages. See my FR thread on...

Court documents filed Wednesday by an assistant to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle confirmed that prosecutors called several grand jurors after their term was over to discuss the case but claimed the discussions were appropriate... prosecutors defended their interaction with the three grand juries. In the brief, the state wrote: • On Sept. 28, the first grand jury indicted DeLay and two associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of Washington, on third-degree felony charges of conspiring to violate the election code. After that grand jury was dismissed, prosecutors learned that a conspiracy charge might not apply to...

This one slipped under the liberal MSM’s radar, so I wanted to address this significant event and it’s upshot for Tom DeLay’s Motion for a Change of Venue, i.e. moving his criminal case out of Travis County, a.k.a. “The People’s Republic of Austin.” On November 8, 2005, Texas voters soundly approved a constitutional amendment, (Proposition 2) by a 3 to 1 margin, to ban same-sex marriage, becoming the 19th State to constitutionally do so. Travis County (Austin) was the only County of 254 Texas Counties that voted against the Same-Sex Marriage Ban (SSMB) by 40% / 60%. The next closest...

After a month of silence, District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed court papers on Wednesday denying that prosecutors did anything improper before a grand jury to obtain a money laundering indictment against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin has requested that a judge throw out the indictment against DeLay, R-Texas, who had to step down as House majority leader after the grand jury acted. DeGuerin, in court filings, has accused prosecutors of unlawfully participating in grand jury deliberations, trying to coerce reluctant jurors into issuing an indictment and violating secrecy laws by telling one panel about another's considerations. In...

- - And he'll stand up to all of Earle's shadowy assertions - - I have noted with interest the reader contributions to this newspaper's annual exercise to identify candidates for "Texan of the Year." #snip# That's right, to the delight of some, the chagrin of others and the surprise of few, I offer for consideration: Rep. Tom DeLay. Mr. DeLay is not my favorite Texan. He's not even my favorite Republican, after leading the grandstanding over the tragic Terri Schiavo case. In fact, I'm not so fueled by partisanship here as I am by justice. Mr. DeLay deserves the...

AUSTIN — An attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay is trying to prompt a response from prosecutors who have not yet answered several motions that are to be argued in court next week. DeLay's legal team has filed requests to dismiss the money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges against the former House majority leader. But, prosecutors who brought the charges against DeLay have not yet responded to the motions, which are expected to be addressed during a hearing today. Attorney Dick DeGuerin asked visiting Judge Pat Priest to set a noon Friday deadline for District Attorney Ronnie Earle's office to...

AUSTIN - An attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said Monday that he will request an early December trial date for the former House majority leader, if the case gets that far. ADVERTISEMENT Attorney Dick DeGuerin said in a letter that "time is of the essence" in the case that has temporarily forced DeLay to step down from his top House post. Judge Pat Priest has set a Nov. 22 hearing to consider requests to drop the charges against DeLay and his co-defendants. Defense attorneys have asked that the charges be dropped for various reasons, including alleged misconduct by a...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Rep. Tom DeLay's attorneys asked for internal documents from the local prosecutor, hoping to show he went after the powerful Republican despite opposition from grand juries. Delay's attorneys asked Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle to provide any internal communications from his office that argued against indicting the former House majority leader. Earle's office declined to comment on Thursday's written request from defense attorney Dick DeGuerin. The request asks for "internal notes, memoranda or documents which recommend against seeking an indictment against Tom DeLay." The letter asks that Earle let the defense know "whether you will voluntarily produce...