The snake gets bitten: DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe ...

Parent Cafe
21

<p>Strick,</p>

<p>You’re wrong on venue:</p>

<p>“Art. 13.13. [205] [253] [242] Conspiracy
Criminal conspiracy may be prosecuted in the county where the conspiracy was entered into, in the county where the conspiracy was agreed to be executed, or in any county in which one or more of the conspirators does any act to effect an object of the conspiracy. If a conspiracy was entered into outside this State under circumstances that give this State jurisdiction to prosecute the offender, the offender may be prosecuted in the county where the conspiracy was agreed to be executed, or in the county where any one of the conspirators was found, or in Travis County.”</p>

22

<p>Representative Joel Hefley, Republican from Colorado tried to do his job but was replaced, because he did it too well. I hope Delay calls on him as a character witness.</p>

23

<p>Greybeard, indeed re: venue. I’ve heard that Earle would have gone for more on DeLay but couldn’t on jurisdictional grounds, conspiracy being the one count he <em>could</em> pursue.</p>

<p>TheMom, reading this morning’s paper wherein DeLay said he was the victim of an “unabashed partisan witch hunt,” said, “I didn’t know that Ken Starr had gotten loose again.”</p>

<p>(Yes, we know that KS is dean of the law school up the road.)</p>

<p>=======</p>

<p>I may contact Pelosi’s office, for I’d been using that phrasing for several days Elsewhere on-line. Otoh, the alliteration almost begs the phrase into being. I don’t think the Republican leadership are morons. I do think that they’re ruthless, cycnical, corrupt, would-be ayahtollahs. But Mordor will fall.</p>

24

<p>“I may contact Pelosi’s office, for I’d been using that phrasing for several days Elsewhere on-line. Otoh, the alliteration almost begs the phrase into being. I don’t think the Republican leadership are morons. I do think that they’re ruthless, cycnical, corrupt, would-be ayahtollahs.”</p>

<p>The sentence is indeed catchy. That is probably why is has been appearing on many blogs with a vengeance -at least according to google. I agree with your statement about the House leaders, and to avoid any confusion this includes dear Pelosi. How despicable and untalented individuals like her and Tom DeLay are able to climb to the pinnacle of Washington speaks volume about the level of integrity and intelligence in Washington. </p>

<p>As far as DeLay, whatever count they can bring against him would probably be a fraction of what he got away with for years. Even if can find fig leaves to protect his virtue, he remains a vile and corrupt politician. His relentless efforts to redistrict Texas and help elect quasi-nazis was Tom DeLay at his best. </p>

<p>If it takes a partisan witchhunt to get rid of him … I hope that this one works better than the last one that was discussed above. The parallel between the two witchhunts is, however, striking … prosecutors have to use minute details when there is so much more than cannot be used.</p>

25

<p>Cool. But since the Democrats have been doing these same transactions for years (they’re all in the public record for anyone to see) including in the same time frame as the transaction in question, does this mean that Earle is going to be indicting local Democrats and members of the DNC, too? Texas Republicans have a long way to go before they’re as crooked as Democrats have been in this state over the long years.</p>

<p>Anyone want guess how long it will be before Earle gets around to the other guys who’ve been committing this “crime”.</p>

<p>Actually, whether what was being done is a crime remains a question. If it is one, Earle’s a partisan for refusing to prosecute members of his own party for the same actions. If it’s not, then he’s a partisan for conducting this malicious prosecution.</p>

26

<p>From the “The More Things Change” Department.</p>

<p>A bit of Deja Vu All Over Again</p>

<p>Barry’s Boys
The Chad Mitchell Trio, 1964</p>

<p>We’re the bright young men from 1910,
We’re Barry’s Boys
We’re the kids with a cause,
Yes, a government like grandmama’s,
We’re Barry’s Boys</p>

<p>We’re the new kind of youth from your alma mater
Back to silver standard and solid Goldwater
Back to when the poor were poor and the rich were rich
And you felt just so damned secure in knowing which were which.</p>

<p>We’re the kids who agree to be social without security
We’re Barry’s Boys
'cause his hat’s in the ring
Where Westbrook Pegler was once king
Now he’s too Left Wing
So if you don’t recognize any old Red China,
Or Canada
Or Britain
Or South Carolina
You, too, can join the crew.
Tippecanoe and Nixon, too
Back to Barry
Back to cash and carry,
Not Lyndon, Ike, or Harry,
Back with Barry’s Boys.</p>

<p>Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get from the Left to the Right. (right)
Roses are red, violets are blue
Walter Lippman’s a Pinko, too
(you got it general)
Alla-ka-knock-ka-knee-ka-nay
Let’s investigate the PTA
Barry, Barry, make your bid
I love John Birch but oh, you kid</p>

<p>Mother, mother, wear a grin
And don’t complain or we’ll turn you in
Hold the presses, stop the mail
The Pentagon’s having a one-cent sale
What’s the latest news statistic?
Hootenanys are Socialistic.</p>

<p>Shut the door and lock and latch it
Here comes [name] with a brand new hatchet
Back with Barry’s Boys.</p>

<p>We’re the kids full of nerve
As long as it’s conservative
We’re Barry’s Boys
We can’t comprehend why our parents aren’t friendlier
To Barry’s Boys.
Why, Dad once crusaded for Sacco-Venzetti
Now all we’re doing is doing the same for John Paul Getty
Our parents emulated Roosevelt and Farley
But we just want to grow up to be like Ev and Charley (right)
[Dirksen & Halleck, how moderate they would be today]</p>

<p>No college days with Socrates and Plato when you’re Barry’s Boys
Just organize parades for the abolishment of NATO and the rest
The entire West!
So let’s go back to the days when men were men
And start the first World War all over again
That’s right, you tell 'em son
Isolationism can be fun!</p>

<p>Back to Barry
Back to cash and carry,
Back with Barry’s–
And remember, I’m an American first and a politician second
(spoken like a true American politician)
Back with Barry,
Not Lyndon, Ike or Harry
Back with Barry’s Boys.</p>

<p>========</p>

<p>Any transcription errors are mine.</p>

27

<p>And this tasty summary of DeLay replacement Roy Blunt:</p>

<pre><code>* Tried to slip pro-Big Tobacco provision into a Homeland Security bill (!) - while he was sleeping with a Philip Morris (aka Altria) lobbyist.

  • Hurt the war effort by passing legislation that reduced competition by limiting military cargo shipments to certain companies such as UPS and FedEx - while his son Andrew was (you guessed it) a lobbyist for UPS.

  • Funnelled $76,000 to his son Matt’s gubernatorial campaign in Missouri by laundering it through a bunch of various campaign committees - while Altria also tossed $24,000 to Matt’s campaign, and $100,000 to one of those middle-man committees.

  • PAC took money from top GOP arrested scum-bag-man Jack Abramoff, to the tune of $8,500. It’s all about the company you keep, ay?

  • Took a trip to Korea in 2002 paid for by a registered foreign agent - which is against House rules.
    </code></pre>

<p>Indeed, deja vu all over again.</p>

28

<p>Strick,</p>

<p>You say “the Democrats have been doing these same transactions for years (they’re all in the public record for anyone to see) including in the same time frame as the transaction in question…”</p>

<p>I’d be much obliged if you would point to a specific example.</p>

29

<p>TheDAD</p>

<p>What’s wrong with passing out a few favors to friends? Blunt’s just doing, well, what folks up here in Chicago do all the time. It’s just that the US Attorney has woken up here, and indicted a bunch of the locals. Indeed, the Chicago Trib was a double header headline this AM: Delay gets indicted, former Ill. govenor goes to trial.</p>

<p>Sigh. It’s all so disppointing.</p>

30

<p>Strick, DeLay is in a league of, well, not quite his own. </p>

<p>The toothless House ethics committee wagged there fingers at him three times, telling him “be more careful in the future.” The toothless admonishments were because it was the minimum the Republicans could do on the face of the evidence but they could block anything stronger.</p>

<p>If you challenge me about corrupt Democrats, I’ll throw you Frank Lautenberg and Max Baucus. But DeLay’s op is a centralized, ham-fisted, top-down, tightly controlled bit of corruption. I’m waiting for the investigative torpedoes on Norquist and Reed to hit early next year. When the press…and the lawyers…start connecting the dots, it’s going to be a very ugly picture. About as ugly as Iraq is now compared to when a certain doofus proclaimed, “Mission Accomplished.”</p>

31

<p>NMD, I grew up…check that…I spent ages 9-16 in Evanston when Chicago was under the rule of the original Daley machine. His response, when challenged on sweetheart deals for his sons, was, “I put my arms around my sons. And if someone doesn’t like it, they can kiss my ass.”</p>

<p>Never the less, Chicago is a double-A farm team compared to Los Federales. Indeed, the Feds have always been the backstop to keep cities and states from Going Too Far. But when the Feds themselves are corrupt, that protection goes away. Unless the Feds have a bone to pick with the locals.</p>

32

<p>When the house committee did criticize him, they removed the committee chair. I wonder if any Republicans are starting to return money to Delay…that would be a bad sign for him. If they think it is all going to blow over, they will keep the money, if not…it will be returned within the month.</p>

33

<p>Mr B.,</p>

<p>Thanks for reminding me of Hefley. He’s a hero in my book, a rare breed. Not many politicians choose principle over partisanship and political expediency. I remember listening to an interview with him during the ethics fiasco. He sounded so real, candid and distressed. The tone was striking in an atmosphere where cynical gamesmanship has become the norm. How about a McCain/Hefley ticket in 2008? I probably wouldn’t vote for them, but at least I could live with them. Ideologues they are not.</p>

34

<p>Loved watching Delay;s attorney flaying around saying, well, yes, money was sent to the RNC and then sent back, but the bank accounts were seperate…unlike Nixon, it wasn’t cash payments</p>

35

<p>Oh yeah, remember when Hillary said it was a right wing conspircay and the republicans flamed her…yet Delay says its a left wing democract witch hunt conspiracy…what a hypocrat…take it like a man, you big ole liar</p>

36

<p>Greybeard, I’m not so sure about venue. The criminal conspiracy Delay is charged with is in Title 15 of the Election Code:

</p>

<p>And according to Title 15 venue is decided thus:

</p>

<p>I admit I’m not an expert, but why wouldn’t this venue rule appy to conspiracy defined under this specific law?</p>

37

<p>I’ll avoid the legal issue and go to the political. Delay cowardly points toward the public servant who is doing his job and cries this is just politics. When his own house found him in violation he simply had the chair removed and then stacked the committee to prevent further embarrassing actions against his poor behavior, now that was politics.</p>

38

<p>Public servant? Earle? Even the Democrats he’s prosecuted were political enemies. Not that he won those cases any more than he did against the Republican he tried to sandbag. Just slowed them down so that his friends could win elections against them. </p>

<p>Earle’s pretty sleazy. Sorry.</p>

<p>TheDad, there are any of a number of things I thought this indictment might be for when I first read the headline. But this? At least get the man for something he’s done that his opponents in the same election weren’t doing.</p>

<p>There is one thing I read in the indictment that makes me wonder how easy it’s going to be for Earle to prove that Delay knew that this act was a crime. Delay waved the statute of limitations on the crime. The indictment came more than 3 years after the act he’s charged with. Why would he do that, why would his lawyer let him do that if either of them thought the underlying transaction were illegal?</p>

<p>I know that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but in this case, the DA has to show intent, that Delay knew the transaction was against the law and that he approved of it. This kind of thing is complicated enough that you can’t always know what’s legal and what isn’t. </p>

<p>Which is why more often than not, civil penalities are applied rather than criminal ones. So, with an act that isn’t clearly illegal, with the criminal rather than civil charges and the participation of a DA who’s had a nasty reputation for partisanship for years here in Texas, you kinda got to wonder whether this case wasn’t just meant to damage Delay so much that he’d be out of the game. A good political trick but something I hope none of us want to see in someone with as much power as this DA.</p>

39

<p>well why would he step down so quickly if he did nothing wrong? makes no sense… he’s not the kinda guy to take one for the team.</p>

40

<p>Strick, a good case is that one of DeLay’s corporate extortion victims/collaborators has rolled over on him. </p>

<p>On the matter of venue: I don’t believe the indictment wouldn’t be immediately quashed if venue were a problem. It wasn’t quashed, ergo venue isn’t a problem. Fwiw, I’ve read several reports in the press that align with Greybeard’s.</p>