HOLY MOLY, TOM DELAY'S GOING TO JAIL

Freshly-indicted Tom DeLay thinks Travis County DA Ronnie Earle is a "fanatic." Yeah, a fanatic for actually trying to make government less corrupt, when everyone knows that's a ridiculous idealistic fantasy.

DeLay called Earle a "unabashed partisan zealot," and "fanatic," and described the charges as "one of the weakest and most baseless indictments in American history."
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DeLay is the first House leader to be indicted while in office in at least a century, according to congressional historians.

The indictment alleges that DeLay conspired with two of his political associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of Virginia, to convert $190,000 in corporate money into individual campaign contributions through a transfer of funds using the Republican National Committee.

Colyandro and Ellis last year were indicted on a money laundering charge involving the transfer. They were reindicted earlier this month to add a criminal conspiracy charge each.

In taking its action today, the grand jury reindicted Colyandro and Ellis on criminal conspiracy charges and added the charge against Delay. Criminal conspiracy is a state jail felony.
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DeLay has said he believes the investigation by Earle, a Democrat, was politically motivated.

Ronnie Earle has prosecuted 15 elected officials in his almost three decades as Travis County (Austin, TX) DA. 12 of those were Democrats. Yeah, the man's real politically motivated, Tom. Well, if you go by his record, he's partisan in the WRONG DIRECTION, you skanky moron.

I posted on Ronnie Earle, whom I know slightly and highly respect, back in November of last year. To quote Ronnie on moral values:

Every law enforcement officer depends on the moral values and integrity of society for backup; they are like body armor. The cynical destruction of moral values at the top makes it hard for law enforcement to do its job.

In terms of moral values, this is where the rubber meets the road. The rules you apply to yourself are the true test of your moral values.

The thinly veiled personal attacks on me by Mr. DeLay's supporters in this case are no different from those in the cases of any of the 15 elected officials this office has prosecuted in my 27-year tenure. Most of these officials - 12 Democrats and three Republicans - have accused me of having political motives. What else are they going to say?

For most of my tenure the Democrats held the power in state government. Now Republicans do. Most crimes by elected officials involve the abuse of power; you have to have power before you can abuse it.

There is no limit to what you can do if you have the power to change the rules. Congress may make its own rules, but the public makes the rule of law, and depends for its peace on the enforcement of the law. Hypocrisy at the highest levels of government is toxic to the moral fiber that holds our communities together.

The open contempt for moral values by our elected officials has a corrosive effect. It is a sad day for law enforcement when Congress offers such poor leadership on moral values and ethical behavior. We are a moral people, and the first lesson of democracy is not to hold the public in contempt.