Tom "I'm innocent" DeLay finally indited

[koolking1]

"Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California step into those duties", AOL news.

This is fantastic. Dreier is reputedly gay and his supposed lover is also his aide, the highest paid aide around, second only to Rove I think. What makes this all interesting is that Dreier continually fights against gay rights causes. I suspect some harsh times ahead for him.

Now, what do all of you right-wing Christians think - the House Majority Leader, the proposed one anyways, may be gay!!!

[DrSmellThis]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700980.html

Not only are they innocent, they're nice boys! :)

[koolking1]

a what??? "Dial-a-Mattress franchise"

It looks like some wheeler-dealer stuff is going on now, Repubs may be looking for someone other that Dreier, surprise surprise.

[DrSmellThis]

How a Tested Campaign Tool Led to Conspiracy Charges

By Anne E. Kornblut / The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/politics/29pacs.html)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - The indictment of Representative Tom DeLay on Wednesday put the Republican National Committee in an uncomfortable spotlight, saying a top political aide to President Bush was the funnel through which $190,000 in improper donations passed in 2002.

According to the indictment, Terry Nelson, the political director in the 2004 Bush re-election campaign, was the individual who received the $190,000 check, which was made out to a division of the R.N.C. That check is alleged to have included money illegally accepted from corporations.

Mr. Nelson, the indictment says, simultaneously received a list of Republican candidates for the Texas State Legislature for whom the money was intended. Under Texas law, it is illegal for state candidates to use corporate contributions.

Mr. Nelson has not been indicted, nor has any other official from the Republican National Committee been implicated. A spokeswoman for the committee declined to comment.

At the foundation of the criminal case is a fact stipulated by all sides: Mr. DeLay was determined to win Republican control of the Texas House of Representatives in 2002. And he succeeded.

Whether the managers of the fund-raising organization he helped create for that purpose - Texans for a Republican Majority, or Trmpac - broke criminal laws in the process is part of what will be decided as the case proceeds. But Mr. DeLay's aggressive style of marrying political power and money, and of creating entities designed to raise money for specific political purposes at the state and federal level, is already on display and certain to be examined in microscopic detail in the months ahead.

According to published reports, Mr. DeLay envisioned Trmpac while driving around Texas with a colleague in 2001, at a time when the Democratically controlled Legislature was beginning to consider redrawing the state's Congressional districts. Mr. DeLay decided then to begin a smaller-scale version of his successful national political action committee, known as the Americans for a Republican Majority, or Armpac, only the purpose of Trmpac would be to reverse the flow of power and money back to Texas.

"He wrote a new chapter, which was exporting the federal power of his office back to his state," said Stan Brand, a campaign finance expert and former general counsel to the House of Representatives when it was controlled by Democrats.

"Most members don't do that to that degree; the only time they ever called the state reps they knew was when it was redistricting time," Mr. Brand said. "But, you know, DeLay had a plan to remake the State Legislature and to remake the Texas Congressional delegation," which in turn enhanced his own power in the House, he said.

Fred Wertheimer, an advocate of strict campaign finance laws, agreed. "This was a classic example of the DeLay system at work, because you had corporations who really weren't interested in Texas politics giving large sums to Trmpac because they were interested in the power of House Majority Leader DeLay," Mr. Wertheimer said.

"You had campaign finance laws being evaded and allegedly violated by using the R.N.C. as a money-laundering operation," he continued. "You had this being done with enormous political stakes involved - including control of the Texas Legislature and, ultimately, control of the House of Representatives. So this is a huge - it's a huge, symbolic example of a corrosive and corrupting system at work."

Filings show that Mr. DeLay continues to receive contributions in his legal defense fund, including $42,900 in the second quarter of this year. Among the donors to his legal fund are more than 80 members of the House. And Mr. DeLay's contributions to fellow Republicans in Congress have continued apace as well, with Armpac donating to more than 160 lawmakers as of April. Over all, Armpac has raised more than $12.5 million for Republican candidates since 1998.

The national fund-raising organization has faced its own troubles: The Federal Election Commission conducted an audit of Armpac earlier this year and determined it had improperly spent $203,500 in the 2002 elections and misstated spending and receipts on disclosure forms. But it is the activities of Trmpac that are under criminal investigation - an inquiry that Mr. DeLay's supporters say is driven by the fury of Texas Democrats who resent his political success in the state.

"Tom DeLay changed the face of Texas politics - nobody can deny that," said Dick DeGuerin, a DeLay defense lawyer. But, Mr. DeGuerin said, "When we get to trial, any fair jury is going to find that Tom DeLay did nothing wrong."

[belgareth]

Quoted from the AP:
Defense lawyers asked a judge Monday to throw out the first indictment, arguing that the charge of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws was based on a statute that did not take effect until 2003 — a year after the alleged acts.
The new indictment from District Attorney Ronnie Earle, coming just hours after the new grand jurors were sworn in, outraged DeLay.

"Ronnie Earle has stooped to a new low with his brand of prosecutorial abuse," DeLay said in a statement. "He is trying to pull the legal equivalent of a 'do-over' since he knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate. This is an abomination of justice."

Earle's office did not return repeated phone calls from The Associated Press.

Does anybody know if this is true? Were the charges filed based on a law that was not in effect? Are we seeing another example of the two party political crap? If so, a prosecutor needs to be hung! There can never be an excuse for that type of games. I am not attempting to justify DeLay either, but application of the law should be across the board and honest by everybody.

[DrSmellThis]

...facts are still coming in.

It would not be unusual at all for a prosecutor to lack mastery of a law he or she was bringing charges under, as terrible as that is. Laws as written are often hopelessly complex, even in regards to some apparently simple provision. All the cross references can get to be like a computer registry badly in need of repair, to use a metaphor as an example. You might have had to look through many other loosely related laws to find the date the other law went into effect. Or maybe the date depended on some external event determined by various other forces. Or maybe there was a series of dates for various provisions that applied in different circumstances.

Law is really that screwed up sometimes. There are many bills thousands of pages long that no one has read! Mistakes are commonplace. Everyone in the legal system might have to "hang" at one time or another.

That is what defense attorneys are for, unfortunately. Often only the best attorneys in the field on either side can even accurately read a law. The same goes for judges.

That is only one reason why you must have great representation to get anything resembling a fair trial in this country. Delay is lucky in this way. Our prisons house more than a few innocents who couldn't afford adequate representation.

Still, that could be a mark of gross incompetence for the prosecutor, given the amount of time and resources that were spent. The statute of limitations may even be an issue. Double f_ck up?

Sounds like they may have had nothing on the conspiracy charge, due to the date the law went into effect; but might make the money laundering stick. So why not just bring the more solid laundering charge, instead of conspiracy, in the first place?

Is this prosecutor that bad?

My other question is about whether or not the RNC should be held equally responsible. You can't launder without a laundry.

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/10/4delay3.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/economy/politics.html

[DrSmellThis]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401637.html

[DrSmellThis]

...but not from a pro-Delay perspective. It's a campaign finance reform political action blog. But you'll get links to the news coverage. I hope he gets a fair shake in court, and suspect he will, given his wealth and all the Republican judges he will likely be facing.

http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/

[belgareth]

Investigator of CIA leak seen as relentless By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

Tue Oct 11, 2005

When defense attorney Ron Safer heard that Patrick Fitzgerald would lead an inquiry into the leak of a CIA operative's name, his first thought was that, from the Bush administration's perspective, "they could not have picked a worse person."

Safer, a Chicago lawyer who has watched Fitzgerald since he was named U.S. attorney there in 2001, says the prosecutor "will bring to this the same energy and aggression that he does to every other project he undertakes."

Fitzgerald's official biography says he was named special counsel in December 2003 to investigate "the alleged disclosure of the identity of a purported employee of the Central Intelligence Agency."

That bland description understates the drama and stakes of the investigation. New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for refusing to testify. The inquiry led to interviews of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and to grand jury subpoenas for White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis Libby and at least a dozen other officials.

Fitzgerald is to meet with Miller today to discuss newly discovered notes on her conversations with Libby. Rove will testify this week before the grand jury for a fourth time.

Fitzgerald wants to know who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame to reporters. Her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, says her cover was blown in retaliation for an op-ed article he wrote in 2003 that accused Bush of "twisting" intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

Perspectives

The inquiry has roiled Washington for months, and tensions are rising because Fitzgerald's grand jury expires Oct. 28. But the man in charge is not a Beltway celebrity. He doesn't hold news conferences in Washington or appear on TV. Friends say he's brilliant and apolitical. Defense lawyers say he can be cold and sometimes surprises them by boldly challenging judges.

Friends and critics agree that his integrity is unassailable and that he is relentless. The list of people he has prosecuted - including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, former Illinois governor George Ryan and New York mobsters - shows he has no qualms about going after the powerful.

Fitzgerald's politics, motivations and style have prompted debate.

"He has no agenda," says David Kelley, former U.S. attorney in New York and a longtime friend. "He looks at the facts, uncovers the facts and goes where the facts lead him."

Mary Jo White, who was Fitzgerald's boss when she was U.S. attorney in Manhattan, says she knows nothing about his political views - "if he has any, and he may not."

Fitzgerald, who declined interview requests, is registered to vote with no party affiliation.

Defense lawyers have a different perspective. Scott Mendeloff, a Chicago lawyer who specializes in corporate fraud cases and formerly tried and supervised public corruption prosecutions in the U.S. attorney's office, says Fitzgerald demonstrates "a more black-and-white view of the world" that is "reductionist in disregarding nuances beyond what it will take to prevail." Some defense lawyers, he says, believe Fitzgerald is "not prone to consider what some would term humane factors in charging and sentencing decisions."

"To say that he is extremely aggressive is, I think, a gross understatement," Safer says. When he's arguing a motion, Safer says, Fitzgerald is "not disrespectful, but he's a lot less deferential than I bet most judges are accustomed to."

History

Fitzgerald, 44, was born in Brooklyn. His Irish immigrant father, Patrick Sr., worked as a doorman at a building in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Fitzgerald went to Regis High School, a Jesuit preparatory school, then worked on its maintenance crew to pay his way through Amherst College. He majored in math and economics, then went to Harvard Law School.

He worked in a New York law firm before joining the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan in 1988. He stayed for 13 years, convicting Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and indicting bin Laden in a conspiracy that included the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

In Chicago, Fitzgerald has indicted two aides to Mayor Richard Daley on mail-fraud charges after an investigation into bribery and hiring abuses. Ryan is on trial on charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud and false statements during his terms as governor and Illinois secretary of State.

Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman who teaches political science at the University of Illinois-Chicago, says Fitzgerald is "almost universally admired ... for telling the truth and prosecuting these cases." He isn't suspected of political motives, Simpson says, because he came to Chicago with no ties to its top politicians and keeps a low profile. "He's doesn't do lunches at the important clubs or make rah-rah speeches," Simpson says.

Even lawyers who question Fitzgerald's tactics say they don't doubt his character. "Pat is driven by iron-tight integrity and a tireless work ethic," Mendeloff says.

Safer, who also once worked in the U.S. attorney's office, faults Fitzgerald for "trying to expand the reach of the mail fraud statutes in ways that are unprecedented" in his government corruption cases. Some errors by politicians, Safer says, "are punishable at the ballot box and not in criminal court." He says Fitzgerald "is impervious to political pressure. ... I've seen no evidence that he has anything but the purest motives."

White says it's unfair to suggest that Fitzgerald is too aggressive. "He's going to pursue matters ... with dedication and thoroughness," she says, "but overzealous? Certainly not."

Miguel Estrada, who worked with Fitzgerald in New York and represents Time reporter Matthew Cooper in the leak inquiry, says Fitzgerald, who is single and a workaholic, is "the picture of what the public would think is an earnest prosecutor. He's a boy scout."

Chuck Rosenberg, a Fitzgerald friend who is U.S. attorney in Houston, was asked recently why Fitzgerald is going after reporters. "I said to them, 'Pat isn't going after journalists, he is after the truth,' " Rosenberg says. "He's exactly the kind of person you'd want doing something like this."

[DrSmellThis]

I heard that about him a long time ago, and hope he is true to that reputation of being an aggressive and thorough prosecutor (except for the "black and white" thinking part, of course).

Administration officials outing a CIA agent to cover up lying to the American people about why we went to war is a grave matter if ever there was one.

[belgareth]

In this case I think black and white is appropriate. For example, either Rove leaked the information or he didn't. That's pretty clear cut. If he leaked the information, it either was or was not illegal. If it was illegal he should be hauled up on charges to the full extent of the law. If he did not leak it or if it was not illegal he needs to be publicly exonerated. The same applies across the board to any and all parties involved.

[DrSmellThis]

I get your idea, but none of those things are really clear cut in most relevant senses, as much as we would like them to be. I want somebody who gets those aspects, as well as being aggressive and thorough.

[koolking1]

heat ratcheting up, DeLay to be arrested on Friday, fingerprinted, photographed, booked, and released on bail.

[DrSmellThis]

He really wanted to avoid those mug shots.

[belgareth]

It still sounds like the same old political BS to me. I'm eager to see it in court. Let me ask you folks something though. What if it is demonstrated that it was the prosecutor playing political games and wasting taxpayer's money along with committing several crimes by misusing his office? If Delay and company are guilty I want them to suffer the consequences, what if the prosecutor is guilty?

DeLay in Court; Lawyers Request New Judge

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer



Rep. Tom DeLay appeared in court Friday for the first time since his indictment, but arraignment on conspiracy and money laundering charges was delayed pending a hearing on his request for a new judge.

DeLay, who has had to step aside as House majority leader, did not speak during the brief court session, and was not called on to make a plea. But at a news conference shortly afterward, he attacked the prosecutor in the case as politically motivated, and said, "I will absolutely be exonerated."

Earlier, inside the courtroom, Judge Bob Perkins told defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, that "the best way for me to handle" the request for a new judge would be to defer further proceedings.

In a courtroom session that ran less than 10 minutes, DeGuerin noted that Perkins had donated money to MoveOn.org, a liberal organization that he said has been selling T-shirts bearing the image of DeLay's mug shot.

"I haven't ever seen that t-shirt, number one," said Perkins, adding he hadn't bought one, either.

He said as far as he could recall, he hadn't donated to the organization since before the 2004 election, "when they were helping John Kerry."

At a news conference outside the courthouse, DeGuerin said, "all we want is a fair trial and a fair tribunal."

But prosecutor Ronnie Earle, whom DeLay once denounced as a "partisan zealot," brushed aside the request for a new judge.

"What this means is if a judge had contributed to Crime Stoppers that judge could not hear a burglary case," Earle said. "Carried to its extreme, that is what I think this motion means and I think that's absurd."

"We don't live in a country where political party determines the measure of justice," Earle said, adding that he though DeLay could get a fair trial in the state's capital.

It was not clear when the hearing would be held on DeLay's motion to replace Perkins, nor was it clear how long it might delay proceedings in the case.

DeLay appeared relaxed as he sat next to his wife in the courtroom. Earlier, he had entered the courthouse through a side door to avoid the cameras.

DeLay and two political associates are charged in an alleged scheme to funnel corporate donations to GOP candidates for the Texas Legislature. State law prohibits use of corporate donations to elect or defeat state candidates. All three deny wrongdoing.

The case has had a political cast from the outset. The charges arise from a campaign in which Republicans gained control of the legislature, then used their new majority to force through a redistricting plan that netted the GOP additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

DeLay's indictment has sent ripples as far away as Washington, where he was forced to step aside as the No. 2 House Republican, at least temporarily. With an eye on the 2006 elections, Democrats have sought to turn him into a symbol of what they depict as an ethically-challenged Republican majority.

But apart from giving up his leadership post — required under GOP rules — DeLay has been nothing but defiant. He retains a powerful influence in the House GOP leadership, has repeatedly attacked Earle and now seeks to force the removal of a judge who has donated to an organizaton his lawyer described as antithetical to GOP fortunes.

DeLay's lawyers also are seeking to have the case moved out of Austin, one of the state's most liberal areas.

DeLay turned himself in to the Harris County sheriff's office in Houston on Thursday, avoiding hordes of reporters waiting for him in nearby Fort Bend County, where he lives.

He smiled broadly in a mug shot that was publicly released. DeLay also was fingerprinted, went before a judge and was released on $10,000 bail.

DeLay's co-defendants are John Colyandro of Dallas, who was executive director of a Texas political action committee founded by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, a paid adviser who also runs DeLay's national fundraising committee. They also face conspiracy and money laundering charges, but their attorneys asked that their cases be separated from DeLay's proceedings.

[Mtnjim]

It still sounds like the same old political BS to me. I'm eager to see it in court. Let me ask you folks something though. What if it is demonstrated that it was the prosecutor playing political games and wasting taxpayer's money along with committing several crimes by misusing his office? If Delay and company are guilty I want them to suffer the consequences, what if the prosecutor is guilty?

You mean sort of like "Whitewater" or "Travelgate"??

[belgareth]

Or any other case of political abuse. Maybe if the people instigating false accusations were hauled into court and prosecuted that crap would stop. I'm not saying that IS what is happening in this case but I am trying to keep an open mind.

[tim929]

As a conservative and a former republican I feel its my duty to inform the masses that ALL POLITICIANS ARE CROOKS! The way the game usualy gets played is that at some point,the powers that be decide that someone is getting alittle too big for thier britches and needs to be thrown under the bus just to create the appearance that its just a few bad apples.The sad reality is that national level politics requires total emersion in the world of lying,cheating and stealing to have any level of success.

Our former president George H.W. Bush was,prior to being vice president under Darth Regan and the corperate empire,the director of the Central Inteligence Agency.An organization that has long been known to be totaly a-moral.The same group that trains rebels to fight agains governments that were trained by...who else...the U.S. government.The same organization that trains terror groups that can be used to further U.S. goals in foreign countries...and then turns against them once the political climate changes.

And this man was president....how stupid are Americans?

Europeans have long known that politicians are corrupt.The game is to elect and support the ones that will loot the country ans set up thier friends in such a way that it doesnt destroy everything.Thier attitude is that you can loot what you want...but leave me with enough too.

Looking for honest men and women in politics is alittle like going to the state pennetentary on release day to find a good babysitter.

[belgareth]

It sounds like you have a reasonable grip on American politics. I've said much the same myself if not quite so clearly. There is quite honestly not a person I know of who is currently active in politics that I would allow in my home unless I had an armed guard to watch him/her.