09/28/2005
House Majority Leader Tom Delay indicted on criminal conspiracy count. Speaker Dennis Hastert to recommend that California Rep. David Dreier take over his duties.
Posted 12:53 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Jury shopping is a wonderful thing.
Posted by: James | Sep 28, 2005 12:56:42 PM
Hey, a gay Majority Leader! Finally. Heh.
Posted by: Glenn | Sep 28, 2005 1:05:00 PM
One down. Many to go.
Give me Frist, Rove, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Cheney, and Bush and my year will be much happier.
Posted by: Tread | Sep 28, 2005 1:21:20 PM
There is an old saying that a good prosecuter and indict an easy chair for murder in front of a grand jury.
Grand juries only hear one side of the story but non the less this is a start to get the little bug eater out of the way.
Posted by: Donald | Sep 28, 2005 1:49:07 PM
If Dreier does in fact become majority leader, we should all write to high ranking republicans and thank them for choosing a gay man to lead their party in the House.
Posted by: Jamison | Sep 28, 2005 1:55:46 PM
I think it's ridiculous that a house or senate member has to step down from any leadership role he holds, just for being under indictment. An idictment is not a conviction, and this is a rule that was never used when Democrats were in control. It's only been implemented since the Republicans have been in office.
The second thing to remember is that this issue stems from ONE check, that may or may not have been improperly placed into a PAC account according to Texas State rules. It's not a violation of federal law, and he's only being indicted under a count of conspiracy, because he had access to the account, not because he actually made the deposit, or controlled the account.
If it takes a year to clear up this question, it will mean Delay has to run for re-election under a cloud of suspicion. What is most suspicious is that this charge was denied by six grand juries before one finally agreed there was enough evidence to prosecute the case.
The day we punish people who are accused of crimes, not because they are convicted of crimes, is a sad day for American justice.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Sep 28, 2005 2:12:26 PM
Jay,
Just a few facts for you, in case facts are actually something you're interested in.
Fact #1: The rule requiring DeLay to step down is purely an internal GOP House Caucus Rule, not a rule of the House or Congress itself. It was first adopted in 1993 -- basically to embarrass Dan Rostenkowski, the Dem Ways & Means Chair, who had been indicted but wouldn't step down.
Fact #2: The GOP repealed the rule last November precisely to protect DeLay, then reversed themselves and reinstated the rule in January after so much stink was raised about the ethical message the GOP was sending. So, you have no one to blame but your precious GOP.
Fact #3: The indictment does not stem from placement of a check in a PAC account. The allegation is that TRMPAC effectively funnelled corporate money to state candidates, which is against Texas law. Sorry you don't seem to think that Texas law is important, but the 12 grand jurors who indicted DeLay seem to feel otherwise. If you want to get into the details of the indictment, I'm happy to. But maybe you ought to just read it for yourself before pontificating on it.
Fact #4: TRMPAC was Tom DeLay's baby. He formed it, he ran it. It's far more than he just "had access to the account." The allegation -- which has to be proved, of course -- is that he and his codefendants had an agreement to circumvent Texas' campaign finance laws.
Finally, I don't know that this case was "denied" by six prior grand juries. I have heard no stories saying that DeLay had been no-billed. If you have, please feel free to provide some evidence.
No one's getting punished here, or wrongly accused. A jury of 12 ordinary Texans said there was enough evidence for Tom DeLay to stand trial, and even though it's Texas, I'm sure he'll get a fair trial -- because he has the money to hire the best lawyers possible (unlike the poor defendants Texas routinely railroads to the execution chamber, with Tom DeLay's blessing). It's the way the American system works, and if you don't like it -- well, Why do you hate America so, Jay?
Posted by: Glenn | Sep 28, 2005 2:43:41 PM
yeah, JAY - what GLENN said. I don't see the PUNSIHMENT here. The GOP decides internally who gets to be their leader, and they made rules that someone under indictment can't be. I mean, you are suggesting they shouldn't live under thier own internal rules! OF COURSE, of more interest to me is the FIRST GAY House Majority Leader!
Posted by: bj | Sep 28, 2005 3:00:49 PM
Uh, didn't the Repugs win the House back in '94 by blasting away at Democrat's ethical lapses ? I seem to remember Jim Wright stepping down prior to any indictment, I'll guess maybe Jay is just too young to remember.
Looks like Newt's little baby chicks have come home to roost.
Posted by: Chris in SF | Sep 28, 2005 3:25:54 PM
LOL, yeah, too young to remember.
In case you don't think being removed from a leadership position and having to defend yourself against baseless allegations is not punishment, I hope you never actually have to define punishment.
Delay will be proved innocent. Five (sorry, not six) earlier Grand Juries have already decided there was no basis for this lawsuit.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Sep 28, 2005 8:05:27 PM
Glenn brings up an excellent point.....we're all waiting for some evidence (other than you saying so) to back up the six, no wait, 5 Grand Juries, Jay. Nothing like it I can find on Google. All we've heard since Spring is that a Grand Jury is expected to indict anyday. You wanna provide a citation that doesn't link to a Freeper site ?
Posted by: Chris in SF | Sep 28, 2005 11:07:33 PM
Another example of republican "moral values"? The filthy swine.
Posted by: Vince | Sep 29, 2005 1:14:31 AM