It seems like it's taken forever, but the state of Texas is finally taking corrupt Republican politician Tom DeLay to court. Back in 2005, DeLay was indicted by a Travis County (Austin) Grand Jury for money laundering and conspiracy. It was against the law in Texas for corporations to fund political campaigns, so DeLay took corporate donations and funneled them through the Republican National Committee and then returned them to Texas Republican candidates.
The charges led to DeLay's resignation from his leadership position in the House of Representatives in 2006. Since that time DeLay has been fighting the charges, taking them all the way to Texas' highest court. A couple of the charges were dismissed, but some serious felonies remain.
After the charges were upheld by Texas courts, DeLay then tried to get the trial moved out of Austin and into his home county of Fort Bend (where he hoped to find some jurors more amenable to him). That also failed as Judge Pat Priest ruled DeLay would not have a problem getting a fair trial in Austin.
Now it's time for DeLay to pay the piper since all his efforts to put justice off have failed. Yesterday, jury selection started. DeLay played fast and loose with the election laws of Texas and thought he was too powerful to be caught and punished. He was wrong. He was caught, and hopefully he will now be punished also.
Personally, I think he'll look great in a prison jumpsuit.
I read about this in the NYTimes this morning. I thought, man sure took long enough. Reading all the Facebook, Tweet World, etc., it's not being discussed widely. I wish it would be and before the election!
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