Tom DeLay vs. Ronnie Earle

Why do I get the feeling that at the end of this it'll seem that Wile E. Coyote failed once again to capture the Road Runner, instead slamming into the fake tunnel he himself painted on the rock wall.

There's a lot I could write about this, but others much more knowledgeable have already done so.  See Ms. Zanotti's epic at The American Princess (she has a lot more legal training than I) and today's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal, for example.

Who knows what a jury will decide, but the four-page indictment isn't much to go on. Mr. DeLay is accused with two associates of using corporate money to fund state legislative campaigns in violation of Texas campaign-finance laws. The indictment includes a copy of a check that it claims was money laundered through a political action committee. But the charge is for conspiracy, which because of its vagueness can be the easiest indictment to bring but the most difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is bizarre from the start:

Not to mention, corporations are more than welcome to contribute to political parties. Lets face it, most corporations give large donations to the DNC and RNC every single year. They just cant give to individual candidates under Texas law. Here, you have a business, giving money to a PAC that gave money to the RNC. Cut out the middle man, and the transaction is legal, correct? Corporation to RNC, okay. Corporation to PAC to RNC not okay? Actually, it is okay under Texas law, since its just an indirect way of doing something a corporation could do directly. To claim that there was a conspiracy here would be to indicate that the corporations tried to make it harder for themselves to do something legally.

That's weird.

On top of which, it's not all that uncommon a practice.  Via Jason Smith, quoting an American Spectator article:

The only problem is that similar transactions are conducted by both parties in many states, including Texas. In fact, on October 31, 2002, the Texas Democratic Party sent the Democratic National Committee (DNC) $75,000, and on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $75,000. On July 19, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000 and, again on the same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000. On June 8, 2001, the Texas Democratic Party sent the DNC $50,000. That very same day, the DNC sent the Texas Democratic Party $60,000.

Mr. DeLay will not likely be felled from the House for this, but may never regain his leadership position, nor have the agenda influence he once had.  The WSJ editorial staff would not be entirely unhappy with that.

Our disagreement with the Majority Leader is that, as the GOP cemented itself in power, he let incumbency become more important than the principles that elected him in the first place.

9/29/05 1500: The Political Teen has video of Rep. DeLay with Sean Hannity discussing the indictment.  This echoes the statements that DeLay has released, which you can read here.

9/29/05 1510: If Mr. Earle wants to root around for conspiracies he might have started with the politicians who benefited from these illegally laundered campaign contributions.

9/29/05 1710: Rick Moran picked Elmer Fudd instead of Wile E. Coyote, but you get the picture.  Also read Will Franklin, who knows a lot about Mr. Earle, being a Texan himself.

Comments

[Will Franklin]

I think it is just not factually correct to say that DeLay "let incumbency become more important than the principles that elected him in the first place."

And I've been meaning to post on that, even before this sham indictment. DeLay got a lot of flak for the comment about there being no fat left to trim. But he was dead-on correct. And I say this as a small government conservative. Cutting pork is such a difficult task (and a huge amount was cut from the highway bill), with huge political downside to individual members, and meanwhile it hardly makes a dent in the actual budget. It is unfortunate that so many WSJ-types have such a poor concept of proportion (millions versus hundreds of billions, and so on). Across-the-board cuts and entitlement reform would make a dent in the budget. Cutting pork-- all the pork, even-- wouldn't.

[Zsa Zsa]

Cutting pork is rather difficult when we have liberals such as Sheila Jackson Lee screaming racism every chance she gets! The race card has really been used to death...

[Zsa Zsa]

Earle is some good pork that could be cut! ... Ya Think? Hmmm...

[Giacomo]

What's astounding is that this highly political indictment is being portrayed as anything but by traditional media sources.

[Zsa Zsa]

I live in Houston and it has been said that the Katrina evacuees are using their Debit cards at the Galleria ... I really think that Sheila Jackson Lee needs to quit while she is ahead!...To assume that this is a racial issue is Racist on her part!... The fact of the matter is that the State and local gov. of Louisiana needs to step up and take the blame! Sheila Jackson Lee in my opinion is one of the Biggest Racist I have ever seen!... The Federal Gov. (Our tax money) will be paying for New Orleans for quite some time! Much has been done for the evacuees by private donations and still more will be given away by the Fed. Gov. to individuals. It sounds like the Jackpot to me???