Delay Indicted!
The Washington Post just reported:
A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.
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.
What about DeLay’s House Majority Leader gig? The plan is for DeLay to “temporarily” relinquish the post. DeLay gets to keep his seat in Congress, though.
More stuff from WaPo:
DeLay, 58, also is the center of an ethics swirl in Washington. The 11-term congressman was admonished last year by the House ethics committee on three separate issues and is the center of a political storm this year over lobbyists paying his and other lawmakers’ tabs for expensive travel abroad.
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.
Let’s hope this is just the warmup …
September 28th, 2005 at 10:39 am
The statute of limitations is 3 year, which would end November 2. Barring any perjury charges, that should be it.
DeLay indicted, steps down
He could get up to two years if convicted.
By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, prompting the Sugar Land Republican to give up his leadership post in Congress.
“I have notified (House Speaker Dennis Hastert) 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,” DeLay said in a statement.
The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.
The grand jury, however, took no action against Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond or state Reps. Dianne Delisi and Beverly Woolley, both of whom sit on the political committee’s board, for their roles in the election.
The grand jury’s term ended today.
Delay’s defense team will hold a news conference in Austin later this afternoon. The team includes defense attorneys Bill White and Steve Brittain of Austin and Dick DeGuerin of Houston.
“It’s a skunky indictment. It stinks to high heaven,” White said.
DeLay and his associates insisted the corporate money was legally spent on committee overhead or issue advertising and not campaign-related activity.
An indictment does not force DeLay to resign as a member of Congress, but the GOP’s rules demand that he resign his post as majority leader as he fights the charges. Congressional Republicans earlier tried to drop that requirement, citing Earle’s investigation as a political vendetta, but they ultimately maintained the rule after withering criticism.
Under House Republican Conference rules, any GOP leader who is indicted for a felony that carries at least a two-year prison term must step down immediately.
“It’s assumed to be immediate,” said Sean Spicer, spokesman for the Republican Conference. “If you’re indicted, you’re indicted.”
The rule applies to the speaker of the House, majority leader, whip, conference chair and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Spicer said.
State law bans corporate money being spent in connection with political campaigns and Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, has spent almost three years investigating whether Republican groups and their business allies violated that ban. The groups helped elect a Republican majority to the state Legislature which, in turn, drew new Congressional districts that benefited Republican candidates.
Over the past year, Travis County grand jurors have indicted three DeLay associates — John Colyandro, Jim Ellis and Warren Robold — as well as eight corporate donors, the Texas Association of Business and DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority. Colyandro and Ellis were re-indicted this morning as part of the conspiracy indictment.
DeLay had appeared to escape criminal scrutiny as early as last year when Travis County prosecutors concluded they did not have the jurisdiction to pursue election code violations against him. Under the law, only DeLay’s local district attorney, a Republican, had jurisdiction, and he expressed no interest in the case.
But a conspiracy charge falls under the criminal code, not the election statute that bans corporate money from being spent on a campaign. And Earle has the jurisdiction to prosecute DeLay for conspiring with others to circumvent state law.
In recent days, the broad-based investigation has focused on one particular transaction during the 2002 campaign.
In late September 2002, Colyandro, the executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, sent a blank check to Ellis, who is DeLay’s primary fundraiser in Washington.
According to the money-laundering indictment returned against those two last year, Ellis was accused of having the Republican National Committee launder $190,000 of corporate donations into noncorporate money that was sent to to seven Texas House candidates, including Austinites Jack Stick and Todd Baxter.
As late as Tuesday, Travis County prosecutors were interviewing Republican National Committee staffers about their roles in the transaction.
Even with DeLay indicted, many Republicans will breathe a sigh of relief that Craddick and others weren’t indicted.
Theoretically, prosecutors could ask another grand jury to consider charges between now and the Nov. 2 anniversary of the 2002 election, when a three-year statute of limitations expires. But the defense lawyers expect today to be the last chance for 2002 allegations.
“What will you know in October,” said one defense lawyer, “that you didn’t know the past six months?”
September 28th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
So, which of these co-conspiritors will turn first?
HOME: OCTOBER 1, 2004: NEWS: COUNTING THE FELONIES
Counting the Felonies
BY MICHAEL KING
The 32 felony indictments announced Sept. 21 by Travis Co. prosecutors charge three persons and eight corporations with various criminal counts of illegally contributing, soliciting, or accepting corporate campaign donations for the 2002 state legislative campaigns. Public Integrity Unit director Gregg Cox described this group of indictments reflecting “one portion of the overall investigation.”
James Ellis (aide to Tom DeLay) Money laundering First-degree felony
John Colyandro (Exec. dir, TRMPAC) Money laundering First-degree felony
13 counts of accepting illegal contributions Third-degree felony
Warren RoBold (DeLay fundraiser) 9 counts of solicitation and accepting illegal contributions Third-degree felony
Questerra Corp., Va. 2 counts, illegal contribution ($50,000) Third-degree felony
Westar Energy, Kan. Illegal contribution ($25,000) Third-degree felony
Diversified Collection Services, Calif. Illegal contribution ($50,000) Third-degree felony
Sears, Roebuck, Ill. Illegal contribution ($25,000) Third-degree felony
The Williams Companies, Okla. Illegal contribution ($25,000) Third-degree felony
Bacardi U.S.A., Fla. Illegal contribution ($20,000) Third-degree felony
Cracker Barrel, Tenn. Illegal contribution ($25,000) Third-degree felony
Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care Illegal contribution ($100,000) Third-degree felony
The 13 indictments against John Colyandro and the nine indictments against Warren RoBold involve the corporate contributions listed above, as well as contributions solicited and accepted from corporations not among the eight indicted, including the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, Cornell Companies, Reliant Resources, AT&T, and El Paso Corp.
A first-degree felony is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine up to $10,000, a third-degree felony by two to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. A corporation convicted of a third-degree felony can be liable for a fine up to $20,000 or additional financial penalties.
September 28th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
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