Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
DeLay Hammered by Campaign Finance Indictment, Steps Down as GOP Majority Leader
A Texas grand jury on Wednesday indicted House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R - Texas) and two political associates, charging them with a conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance laws. House Republicans gathered within hours of the indictment becoming public and chose Rep. Roy Blunt (R - MO) to replace DeLay as majority leader who was forced to step down because of House rules. We speak with the executive editor of The Texas Observer and independent journalist Doug Ireland.
A Texas grand jury on Wednesday indicted House Majority leader Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. DeLay is temporarily stepping down from his post as House majority leader - the Number Two ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives.
GOP House rules require DeLay to give up his leadership position because of the indictment, but he is allowed to retain his Congressional seat.
Delay has denied the charges and accused the prosecutor who lodged them - Ronnie Earle - of conducting a political witch-hunt against him.
* Rep. Tom DeLay (R - Texas)
Longtime Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is a Democrat with a long history of going after politicians on both sides of the aisle. He defended the accusations of partisanship made by DeLay and recounted his past record of prosecutions.
* Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney.
Tom DeLay could face up to two years in prison if convicted on the charge handed up by the Travis County grand jury in Austin. He is the first House leader to be indicted in office in at least a century - this according to the Associated Press. Republicans quickly rallied behind DeLay and announced their support for his return as House majority leader. House Speaker Dennis Hastert emerged from a meeting with House GOP leaders late Wednesday afternoon and announced that Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri - the current majority whip - will temporarily replace DeLay. Congressmembers David Dreier of California - the chairman of the Rules Committee - and Eric Cantor of Virginia - the deputy whip - will assist Blunt with some of the majority leader duties.
* Rep. Dennis Hastert (R - Illinois), Speaker of the House
Republican Congressmember Roy Blunt of Missouri and House Speaker Dennis Hastert at a news conference Wednesday.
Tom DeLay was indicted on a single conspiracy charge tied to illegal fund-raising activities in Texas. The indictment accuses DeLay and two alleged co-conspirators - John Colyandro and Jim Ellis - of engaging in a scheme to launder $190,000 in corporate donations through the Republican National Committee for distribution to Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature.
The money was funneled to the RNC from Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee - or TRMPAC - which was created by DeLay and associates for the 2002 state elections.
Texas law generally prohibits corporate money from being used for campaign activities.
TRMPAC's money and expertise helped Republicans win control of the Texas Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. At DeLay's urging, the Legislature then conducted a controversial remapping of congressional districts that resulted in more Republicans from Texas being elected to the U.S. House.
TRMPAC itself was indicted on Sept. 8 for accepting illegal corporate funds. Eight corporations and an industry lobbying group have also been indicted during the 34-month probe.
At the White House, the president's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, expressed support for Delay.
* Scott McClellan, White House spokesperson.
DeLay is an 11-term congressman from the Houston area. He was elected majority whip in 1994 and became House majority leader in 2002. His reputation as a tough party enforcer have earned him the nickname, "The Hammer."
With DeLay under fire for three admonishments by the House ethics committee on separate issues, and amid concerns about the grand jury investigation in Texas, House Republicans changed a rule in November 2004 so that DeLay could keep his leadership post in the event he were indicted. But they were forced to reverse the move two months later following a public outcry.
* Jake Bernstein, Executive Editor of The Texas Observer.
* Doug Ireland, a longtime radical political journalist and media critic. He has been a columnist for The Nation magazine, Village Voice, the New York Observer and the Paris daily Liberation. He is also a contributing editor of POZ, the monthly for the HIV-positive community and writes a blog, "Direland"
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/29/1348215
GOP House rules require DeLay to give up his leadership position because of the indictment, but he is allowed to retain his Congressional seat.
Delay has denied the charges and accused the prosecutor who lodged them - Ronnie Earle - of conducting a political witch-hunt against him.
* Rep. Tom DeLay (R - Texas)
Longtime Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is a Democrat with a long history of going after politicians on both sides of the aisle. He defended the accusations of partisanship made by DeLay and recounted his past record of prosecutions.
* Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney.
Tom DeLay could face up to two years in prison if convicted on the charge handed up by the Travis County grand jury in Austin. He is the first House leader to be indicted in office in at least a century - this according to the Associated Press. Republicans quickly rallied behind DeLay and announced their support for his return as House majority leader. House Speaker Dennis Hastert emerged from a meeting with House GOP leaders late Wednesday afternoon and announced that Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri - the current majority whip - will temporarily replace DeLay. Congressmembers David Dreier of California - the chairman of the Rules Committee - and Eric Cantor of Virginia - the deputy whip - will assist Blunt with some of the majority leader duties.
* Rep. Dennis Hastert (R - Illinois), Speaker of the House
Republican Congressmember Roy Blunt of Missouri and House Speaker Dennis Hastert at a news conference Wednesday.
Tom DeLay was indicted on a single conspiracy charge tied to illegal fund-raising activities in Texas. The indictment accuses DeLay and two alleged co-conspirators - John Colyandro and Jim Ellis - of engaging in a scheme to launder $190,000 in corporate donations through the Republican National Committee for distribution to Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature.
The money was funneled to the RNC from Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee - or TRMPAC - which was created by DeLay and associates for the 2002 state elections.
Texas law generally prohibits corporate money from being used for campaign activities.
TRMPAC's money and expertise helped Republicans win control of the Texas Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. At DeLay's urging, the Legislature then conducted a controversial remapping of congressional districts that resulted in more Republicans from Texas being elected to the U.S. House.
TRMPAC itself was indicted on Sept. 8 for accepting illegal corporate funds. Eight corporations and an industry lobbying group have also been indicted during the 34-month probe.
At the White House, the president's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, expressed support for Delay.
* Scott McClellan, White House spokesperson.
DeLay is an 11-term congressman from the Houston area. He was elected majority whip in 1994 and became House majority leader in 2002. His reputation as a tough party enforcer have earned him the nickname, "The Hammer."
With DeLay under fire for three admonishments by the House ethics committee on separate issues, and amid concerns about the grand jury investigation in Texas, House Republicans changed a rule in November 2004 so that DeLay could keep his leadership post in the event he were indicted. But they were forced to reverse the move two months later following a public outcry.
* Jake Bernstein, Executive Editor of The Texas Observer.
* Doug Ireland, a longtime radical political journalist and media critic. He has been a columnist for The Nation magazine, Village Voice, the New York Observer and the Paris daily Liberation. He is also a contributing editor of POZ, the monthly for the HIV-positive community and writes a blog, "Direland"
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/29/1348215
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
One less loony on the street is fine with me.
DeLay, was "kicked out of Baylor in 1967 for drinking and carousing" and then became a pest exterminator who hated the EPA for not allowing him to use as much toxic chemicals as he wanted to. He finally ran for office against the EPA, became a fundamentalist Christain and became a Republican leader.
I a recent quote he states "“Don’t send your kids to Baylor. And don’t send your kids to A&M,” ...Texas A&M used to be a conservative university … It’s lost all of its conservatism,” he reportedly said. “My daughter went there. You know, she had horrible experiences with coed dorms and guys who spent the weekends in the rooms with girls, and all this kind of stuff went on there.”
http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=467&department=CFI&categoryid=cfreport
His anger at Baylor extended to their teaching of evolution and other nonChristian subjects but its interesting to note that he criticized a University he was kicked out of for supporting the exact behavior he was kicked out for.
You can guess that his disrespect for the rule of law and bullying tone in his speech when hes denouncing secular heathens probably has the same psychological source as his drunken violent behavior towards women when he was at Baylor. If you asked anyone he went to school with where he would end up in life they probably would have said jail and while he has now served a stint as a Republican leader they were probably right. People like DeLay who have huge egos, no respect for the rights of others and are willing to do whatever it takes to get their goals (whether it is raping another student or redistricting Texas) usually end up in trouble.
I a recent quote he states "“Don’t send your kids to Baylor. And don’t send your kids to A&M,” ...Texas A&M used to be a conservative university … It’s lost all of its conservatism,” he reportedly said. “My daughter went there. You know, she had horrible experiences with coed dorms and guys who spent the weekends in the rooms with girls, and all this kind of stuff went on there.”
http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=467&department=CFI&categoryid=cfreport
His anger at Baylor extended to their teaching of evolution and other nonChristian subjects but its interesting to note that he criticized a University he was kicked out of for supporting the exact behavior he was kicked out for.
You can guess that his disrespect for the rule of law and bullying tone in his speech when hes denouncing secular heathens probably has the same psychological source as his drunken violent behavior towards women when he was at Baylor. If you asked anyone he went to school with where he would end up in life they probably would have said jail and while he has now served a stint as a Republican leader they were probably right. People like DeLay who have huge egos, no respect for the rights of others and are willing to do whatever it takes to get their goals (whether it is raping another student or redistricting Texas) usually end up in trouble.
In a serious blow to the Bush administration and the congressional Republican leadership, Congressman Tom DeLay stepped down as House Majority Leader Wednesday after he was indicted by a Texas grand jury on charges of conspiracy to violate state election laws.
DeLay and two political aides, John Colyandro and James W. Ellis, were charged with conspiring to funnel corporate campaign cash to Republican candidates for the Texas state legislature, in violation of a state law which prohibits direct corporate campaign contributions. Conviction on the single count carries penalties of up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
DeLay issued a statement saying, “I have notified the Speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today.” House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicated that DeLay would be replaced temporarily by the No. 3 House Republican, Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.
The rules of the Republican conference make any Republican member indicted on criminal charges ineligible to hold a leadership position. The Republican House membership voted to change that rule last November, anticipating that DeLay might be indicted, but reversed itself in January after widespread negative media publicity over the ouster of the Republican chairman of the Ethics Committee, who opposed the change.
The grand jury convened by Travis County (Austin) District Attorney Ronnie Earle has been investigating a chain of events in the state and federal elections of 2002 and 2004. In the course of the 2002 campaign, according to the indictment, corporate campaign contributions were illegally directed to Republican state legislative candidates in key districts, assisting the Republican takeover of the state House and Senate.
The newly installed Republican state legislature then radically revised the boundaries of the state’s 32 federal congressional districts, using a method dubbed “cracking and packing,” in which the existing districts were broken up and minority neighborhoods removed from them and “packed” into a handful of overwhelmingly Democratic districts, leaving the remaining “minority-free” districts far more favorable to Republican candidates.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/dela-s29.shtml
DeLay and two political aides, John Colyandro and James W. Ellis, were charged with conspiring to funnel corporate campaign cash to Republican candidates for the Texas state legislature, in violation of a state law which prohibits direct corporate campaign contributions. Conviction on the single count carries penalties of up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
DeLay issued a statement saying, “I have notified the Speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today.” House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicated that DeLay would be replaced temporarily by the No. 3 House Republican, Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri.
The rules of the Republican conference make any Republican member indicted on criminal charges ineligible to hold a leadership position. The Republican House membership voted to change that rule last November, anticipating that DeLay might be indicted, but reversed itself in January after widespread negative media publicity over the ouster of the Republican chairman of the Ethics Committee, who opposed the change.
The grand jury convened by Travis County (Austin) District Attorney Ronnie Earle has been investigating a chain of events in the state and federal elections of 2002 and 2004. In the course of the 2002 campaign, according to the indictment, corporate campaign contributions were illegally directed to Republican state legislative candidates in key districts, assisting the Republican takeover of the state House and Senate.
The newly installed Republican state legislature then radically revised the boundaries of the state’s 32 federal congressional districts, using a method dubbed “cracking and packing,” in which the existing districts were broken up and minority neighborhoods removed from them and “packed” into a handful of overwhelmingly Democratic districts, leaving the remaining “minority-free” districts far more favorable to Republican candidates.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/dela-s29.shtml
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$330.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network