Re: Hammered!
- From: "Keri Larkin" <KL2090@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:35:48 -0400
Local Democratic DA with a vendetta
these charges will never see court
DISMISSAL
"byoung2735" <byoung2735@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:w72dnaXvaZo0dKbeRVn-hg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The Hammer Gets Hit, Hard
> By Ari Berman, TheNation.com
> Posted on September 29, 2005, Printed on September 29, 2005
> http://www.alternet.org/story/26153/
> The Republican Party's once-copious political capital is quickly eroding.
> As we go to press, House majority leader Tom DeLay has just been indicted
> by a Texas grand jury on one count of criminal conspiracy in a fast-moving
> money-laundering case.
>
> "I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my
> position as majority leader," DeLay said in a statement following the
> stunning final day of the grand jury's term. The Republican Party's go-to
> guy, famously nicknamed "The Hammer," finally got whacked.
>
> DeLay's indictment comes on the heels of charges that his top political
> aide, Jim Ellis, and veteran fundraiser, John Colyandro, illegally
> funneled $190,000 in corporate contributions to candidates for the Texas
> legislature in 2002 through the national Republican Party. "The indictment
> charges DeLay with conspiring with Ellis and Colyandro to violate the
> Texas Election Code by contributing corporate money to certain candidates
> for the Texas Legislature," said the statement from DA Ronnie Earle. "It
> describes a scheme whereby corporate, or 'soft' money, was sent to the
> Republican National Committee where it was exchanged for 'hard' money, or
> money raised from individuals, and sent to those candidates." The probe
> initially focused on violations of Texas election law but was recently
> broadened to include conspiracy charges. DeLay's modus operandi--the
> ruthless accumulation of money and favors to benefit corporate interests
> and far-right Republicans--may ultimately secure his demise. In essence,
> he got caught for doing business as usual.
>
> The indictment sent a shock wave through the GOP establishment, which is
> already reeling from a swath of criminal and ethics investigations. Three
> individuals, eight corporations and two political action committees
> connected to DeLay have been indicted as a result of the probe. In
> addition, the government's top procurement official, David Safavian, was
> arrested in September for obstructing a criminal investigation into
> uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close DeLay ally. Abramoff himself is under
> criminal investigation for defrauding Indian tribes and was indicted for
> wire fraud in Florida in a separate case. Top White House aides, including
> Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, have been targeted by a special prosecutor
> investigating the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Representative Duke
> Cunningham announced he would not run for re-election after overselling
> his house for $700,000 to a military industry lobbyist; he too has been
> indicted. FDA chief Lester Crawford resigned unexpectedly after just two
> months on the job, possibly because of failure to report his wife's
> sizable pharmaceutical-industry holdings. And DeLay's Senate counterpart,
> Bill Frist, is battling possible insider-trading charges for dumping
> millions in HCA stock, a company founded by his father and run by his
> brother, weeks before it plunged in value. The US Attorney in Manhattan
> and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into
> Frist and HCA in September.
>
> "The fact that Tom DeLay is under criminal indictment and Senate majority
> leader Bill Frist are under criminal investigation is a historic first,"
> says Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
> (CREW). "This demonstrates the culture of corruption among the
> Congressional leadership that has become a cancer on our country."
>
> CREW helped former Representative Chris Bell file an ethics complaint
> against DeLay in June 2004, which led to three unprecedented admonishments
> by the previously defanged House Ethics Committee: for blackmailing a
> lawmaker to support the Medicare "reform" bill, for trading campaign
> contributions for legislation and for illegally ordering the Federal
> Aviation Administration to track down Texas legislators who protested his
> controversial redistricting plan of 2002. That plan, which DeLay rammed
> down the throats of the legislature, boosted the GOP House majority. More
> than a few conservative Republicans owe their rise to DeLay. Consequently,
> last November House Republicans repealed a rule mandating that a member of
> the leadership step down if indicted. Fearing backlash from party
> moderates and voters, the House leadership quickly reinstated the rule.
> But old habits die hard: House majority whip Roy Blunt, recently dubbed
> one of the thirteen "most corrupt" members of Congress by CREW, will
> temporarily replace DeLay.
>
> DeLay's iron-fist ruling style was said to be an integral part of the
> GOP's successes. Unprecedented party loyalty, powerful connections to big
> business and lobbyists on K Street, fundraising prowess and backing from
> the White House and Senate leadership reinforced the perception that DeLay
> and his cronies were untouchable. Lawmakers who didn't vote with the
> leadership were thrown off committees. Those who didn't meet annual
> fundraising requirements were blocked from ascending the party ladder.
> Lobbyists who didn't identify as Republicans were told to take their
> business elsewhere. The arrogance of power now seems to have come full
> circle, with DeLay and Frist as prime examples.
>
> Sixty percent of respondents in a recent Democracy Corps poll say the
> country is moving in the wrong direction. A generic Democrat running for
> Congress in 2006 beats a generic Republican by 9 percent in polls.
> Congress's approval is at an all-time low, and so is Bush's: 45 percent of
> respondents in a recent Democracy Corps poll are "finished with him." More
> and more Americans will learn about Congressional leaders through the lens
> of scandal and sleaze, underscoring the impression that Republicans care
> more about special interests than average Americans. "DeLay's name ID
> spiked as the scandals grew," says Karl Agne of Democracy Corps. "Now it's
> up to Democrats to distance themselves from the mess in Washington and
> articulate what they're going to do differently."
>
> Bush promised during the 2000 presidential campaign to "change the culture
> of Washington." His Republican majority succeeded--for the worse.
>
>
.
- References:
- Hammered!
- From: byoung2735
- Hammered!
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