About those charges against Tom Delay....

Prosecutor sells soul to devil to come up with something....

from JoeUser Forums
In case you didn't see the sub-head, I'm postulating a bit that Prosecutor Ronnie Earle perhaps has sold his soul to the devil to come up with some charges -- any charges -- against U.S. Representative Tom Delay.

I'm no fanboy of Tom Delay. He's a mean-spirited, tough s.o.b., that plays a dirty brand of politics and is much more rightward leaning than I really like. But just because I think he's a jerk doesn't mean that I think he's guilty of commiting any real crime.

The more I read about the charges against Delay, the more I think that Earle is on one hell of a fishing expedition, and he's doing anything and everything possible to get some charges -- again, any charges would do -- against Delay. He has tried to apply new laws to old acts, even though the law doesn't cover the periods when the acts ocurred. He has bullied -- some would say in much the same way Delay is often accused of doing -- others to do his will, and when he hasn't gotten what he has wanted he has opted to use his own mulligans to go back to the well and bring back a different result after coming up dry a few times.

Honestly, I really don't care if Delay winds up in prison stripes or not, or if he ever serves another day in the U.S. Congress. He's not important to helping to pass anything that I'm really longing for in Congress. But I don't think justice is served by a power hungry, publicity seeking, out-of-control prosecutor that can't get the results he wants without breaking rules or laws himself. Bending the law to achieve a result is wrong, no matter how noble your original cause.
politics
2,615 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
no matter how noble your original cause.

You give Earle too much credit there. Otherwise, I agree with you completely.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
The more I read about the charges against Delay


since the evidence has not been made public--in keeping with both texas statute and custom--you can't have read much more about the first indictment than:

a. there's no question the indictees engaged in acts that appear to violate long-standing texas campaign funding laws.

b. delay denies knowingly violating the law as well as willful participation in a conspiracy to do so...but if it should be proven he did enter into a conspiracy, so what? that specific method of breaking the law wasn't illegal at the time.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

since the evidence has not been made public--in keeping with both texas statute and custom--you can't have read much more about the first indictment than:

yes you can.  The Grand Jurors are talking.  It is not a pretty picture, and Terp has accurately portrayed it.

And the problem with the first indictment?  The law was passed in 2003, and the alleged event occured in 2002.  A clear case of retroactive application of a law, and unconstitutional.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's no surprise. When this prosecutor tried to nail another politician in Texas, he stretched it out as long as he could before he had to show his evidence in court, and then pulled out of it. Then, he called reporters to his hotel room and showed THEM the evidence.

It's patently obvious what he was doing in that case. He was trying to keep it in the news as long as he could, and then tried to use the public as a jury. My personal opinion is that this guy believes if he can't get people punished in court, he can turn the voting public against them.

That's not to say he is a shill for either party, just that he isn't what he claims to be.