Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Just exactly how much was the election of a few Texas legislators worth to you, sweet leader?
As of 12:46 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, CNN hot wired, “House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [was] indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by Texas grand jury, according to Travis County clerk's office.”
The Associated Press also reported:
Rumored at the helm for the Republican leadership post is Rep. David Dreier, R-CA.A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.
DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay’s national political committee.
[…]
Wednesday’s indictment stems from a plan DeLay helped set in motion in 2001 to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction.
A state political action committee he created, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted earlier this month on charges of accepting corporate contributions for use in state legislative races. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used to advocate the election or defeat of candidates; it is allowed only for administrative expenses.
With GOP control of the Texas legislature, DeLay then engineered a redistricting plan that enabled the GOP take six Texas seats in the U.S. House away from Democrats — including one lawmaker switching parties — in 2004 and build its majority in Congress.
Speaking of rumors, progressive blog, Raw Story, reported last summer Dreir is gay; and during the congressman's "2000 campaign [he] was living with his chief of staff."
Let's see. Law and order, gay-bashing Republicans now have the number two man in the House under indictment; majority leader in the Senate under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. And to carry the P/R fight, Ken Mehlman of "questionable life style" and Dreier.
The drip-drip-drip of bad news for Republicans and Bush is a political tsunami.
STELLA!
L A U R A !
: 3:32 PM From Media Matters:
Republicans have claimed that Travis County, Texas, District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is investigating DeLay, is doing so for purely partisan reasons. This charge was dutifully echoed on FOX News Channel, and most other news outlets have reported it -- without noting that Earle has, in fact, prosecuted more Democratic politicians than Republican politicians.
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