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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (67895)	10/4/2005 7:26:04 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Grand jury indicts DeLay on a 'do-over' October 4, 2005 From combined dispatches AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas grand jury yesterday indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on charges of money laundering as prosecutors tried to correct problems with an earlier charge against him. Mr. DeLay, Texas Republican, stepped down as House majority leader last week after a grand jury indictment accused him of conspiring to violate state campaign-finance laws by using banned corporate funds in Texas elections. However, attorneys for Mr. DeLay yesterday argued the charge was not valid since the purported offense took place in 2002 and the state Legislature didn't change the law to include a conspiracy statute until 2003. A new Travis County grand jury, which met for the first time yesterday, indicted Mr. DeLay on a charge of money laundering related to the same set of actions. The charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. The new indictment came hours after Mr. DeLay's attorneys filed a request to dismiss the case, causing DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden to accuse Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle of having "panicked." Mr. DeLay called it a legal "do-over." "He knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate," the lawmaker said. "This is an abomination of justice." Mr. Earle's office did not return repeated phone calls from the Associated Press. Both indictments say the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee accepted corporate funds -- illegal for use in a Texas state campaign -- to give to the Republican National Committee, which then distributed a similar amount to a list of Texas candidates provided by the PAC. Stuart Roy, Mr. DeLay's former spokesman and now a political strategist, said the new indictment is an embarrassment to Mr. Earle. "The judicial incompetence and political hatred that Ronnie Earle showed today demonstrates that Texans did not elect their best and brightest to the position of Travis County DA," he told The Washington Times. "Ronnie Earle may truly be the Elmer Fudd of politics." Mr. DeLay's office also sent out a press release quoting Mr. Earle from a press conference last week, when he was asked whether he sought money laundering charges from the first grand jury. "The grand jury returned the indictments that the grand jurors felt were appropriate to the evidence that was presented in this case," Mr. Earle said Wednesday. Mr. DeLay's office said this proved Mr. Earle is engaging in "prosecutorial abuse." "A grand jury [impaneled] for six months decided that there was no money laundering, and yet on Day One, a new grand jury found what the other grand jury couldn't find in six months?" the statement said. ,/b> But Democrats treated the new indictment as evidence of mounting problems for Mr. DeLay. "I hope this development will light a fire under the ethics committee and inspire them to take action so that Mr. DeLay and other members of Congress are held fully accountable for their unethical behavior," said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, New York Democrat and ranking member of the House Rules Committee.

To: American Spirit who wrote (67895)	10/6/2005 11:34:57 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

2nd DeLay charges initially were rejected By Stephen Dinan October 6, 2005 Three days after a grand jury turned down a second indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, prosecutor Ronnie Earle went to a new grand jury citing new evidence and won indictments on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. Mr. DeLay and two political associates were first indicted Sept. 28 on a charge of a criminal conspiracy to violate campaign-finance laws and then were indicted by another grand jury Monday on the two money-laundering charges. But in between, Mr. Earle, the district attorney for Travis County, Texas, tried but failed to get still another grand jury to indict Mr. DeLay, apparently on money-laundering charges. "We have inquired carefully into the case... and in this said matter, we have failed to find a bill of indictment against him," the grand jurors said in their "no-bill" statement regarding Mr. DeLay and two political associates. Also yesterday, the foreman of the first grand jury, which returned the campaign-finance conspiracy indictment, said yesterday that his vote to indict was based on TV commercials that he disliked and were run by a Texas business group in 2002 and not on any evidence presented to the grand jury. "My decision was based upon those, not based upon what happened in the grand jury room," William Gibson told Austin radio station KLBJ. "They were stating their positions, and I could state my position by saying I don't like that." Mr. DeLay's supporters e-mailed the transcript and an audio clip of the radio interview to journalists and others yesterday as evidence that something was wrong with the process. Mr. Earle won the initial indictment on the last day of the first grand jury, failed to win the second indictment on the last day of the second grand jury, then won two more indictments on the first day of the third grand jury. In a written statement issued Tuesday, Mr. Earle said Monday's indictment was based on new evidence that he became aware of over the weekend. The prosecutor did not say what the evidence is. He also acknowledged that the intermediate grand jury didn't return an indictment. "Out of an abundance of caution because of the passage of time, the District Attorney's Office presented some evidence of those allegations to another grand jury. That grand jury declined to indict on the last day of its regular term." The Austin American-Statesman first reported on the grand jury's no-bill. The paper reported that before taking the case to the third grand jury Monday, prosecutors polled the first grand jury members to see how they would have voted on money-laundering charges. The paper also reported that the no-bill document was not available at the courthouse when they checked Tuesday, contrary to usual practice after such a decision. The charges all stem from Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee Mr. DeLay helped found. The daily operations were run by Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, who were also indicted on money-laundering and campaign-finance charges. In the week since the first indictment, Mr. DeLay has followed House Republican rules and given up his post as majority leader, and he and his attorneys have given a series of interviews to TV and radio outlets. Speaking on Fox News yesterday, one of Mr. DeLay's attorneys, Dick DeGuerin, said that Mr. Earle had tried to have the first grand jury indict on money-laundering charges, but that grand jury refused. Mr. DeLay's attorneys had filed a motion to dismiss the first indictment, arguing the charges were based on a law that the Legislature changed in 2003, even though the actions charged happened in 2002. Soon after their motion, Mr. Earle won the second indictment, and Mr. DeLay's lawyers said he had to seek the new indictment because his case was flimsy. Mr. Earle says the political action committee violated a Texas state law banning corporate campaign contributions by collecting such donations, sending that money to an arm of the Republican National Committee, then asking the RNC group to donate to state candidates. • This article was based in part on wire-service reports.