DeLay To Be Sentenced Today

Today's the day.   Last November Tom Delay, former Texas congressman and Republican power-broker, was convicted of violating Texas law.   A Travis County jury found him guilty of Money Laundering and of Conspiracy To Launder Money.   It is a violation of Texas law for a corporation to provide financial support for a candidates campaign, so DeLay took corporate money and funneled it through the national Republican organization and back to the campaign coffers of Republican candidates in Texas.

Today the sentencing hearing for the Republican criminal is to take place in an Austin courtroom.   He could get anything from probation to life in prison.   It is not known whether the sentence will be given today or not -- that depends on how much information and testimony the judge wants before he makes his decision.

Personally, I would like to see DeLay get a long prison sentence, but I think the odds are against it (and if he gets less than 10 years the odds are that he would be released on an appeal bond until the appeal is over).   If he gets more than 10 years, he would be incarcerated while he appeals the case.

It probably doesn't much matter what the judge does.   The case will be appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- populated by Republicans -- and I figure they will probably overturn his conviction or reduce his sentence.   But I can still hope, and my hope is for a few years in prison at least (and that the Court of Appeals actually develops a conscience).   We'll see.

-------------------------------

UPDATE -- Judge Pat Priest has sentenced Tom DeLay to serve a prison sentence.   He gave DeLay a prison term of 3 years for the conspiracy charge, and an additional 5 years on the money laundering charge.   However, the 5 year sentence was to be probated for 10 years -- meaning he serves 10 years on probation and if he violates that probation he will go back to prison for 5 years.

DeLay was immediately taken into custody and transported to the Travis County Jail, but he is expected to be released as soon as an appeal bond can be posted.

I still don't expect DeLay to actually serve any time in prison (even though he deserves to do so).   Remember, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is loaded with Republicans.

Texas Republican Leaders Ignorant Of The Law

The above picture (from the excellent blog Texas Vox) shows the reality of former Republican congressional leader Tom DeLay.   He has been convicted of a couple of serious crimes and stands a very good chance of having to do some jail time for his criminal behavior.   But reality has never been a strong suit for Republicans, and it now looks like Texas Republican leaders have broken any tenuous hold on reality they might once have had.

The Texas State Republican Executive Committee is considering a rather ridiculous resolution this weekend.   The resolution is to call on Governor Perry to immediately pardon Tom DeLay for his criminal behavior so he won't have to serve any sentence in jail.   The SREC is the most powerful group of Republican leaders in the state, and one would expect that they should know Texas law -- but evidently they don't.

While governors in many states do have the power to pardon anyone they want, that is not true in Texas.   The governor of Texas does not have the power to pardon anyone.   All he can do is recommend a pardon to the Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP), and that board has no obligation to follow (or even acknowledge) the governor's recommendation.   That board is the only entity which has the power to pardon anyone convicted in Texas, and it is a power they almost never exercise.

Perry has been the governor of Texas for over 10 years now and has probably appointed or re-appointed all the members of the BPP.   But if they pardon a recently-convicted Republican politician when they have never pardoned any Democrats and have seldom pardoned anyone at all, that's going to certainly have the stench of party favoritism and political cronyism.   And that could cause serious public criticism even in a state as red as Texas.

But it could happen.   Modern right-wing Republicans don't seem to have much respect for the law or ethics when it comes to something they want.   For them, law and ethics are things that only apply to Democrats.

Tom DeLay is a convicted criminal.   He was convicted by a jury of his peers in a fair trial (and he was defended by one of the best attorneys in Texas).   It would not be right for him to be pardoned at this time.

Guilty As Hell !

I must admit that I figured Tom Delay, former GOP House leader and poster boy for corrupt politics, would probably get off without being convicted of the crimes he had been charged with five years ago.   I'm happy to say I was wrong.   Yesterday a Travis County (Austin, Texas) jury, after 19 hours of deliberation, convicted Delay of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.

Sentencing has been set for December 20th in Austin, and the judge in the case has a wide range of sentences he could impose.   The most serious of the two charges is money laundering.   The judge could sentence Delay to as little as five years or as much as a life sentence on that charge (parole is possible after 30 years on a life sentence).   I doubt Delay will get a life sentence, but 5 or 10 years is a distinct possibility.

This whole thing comes from Delay's believing he was so powerful that he no longer had to follow the rules and laws that applied to others.   Back in 2002, Delay tried to pull an end-run around the campaign laws in Texas.   The law said a corporation couldn't give money to a political candidate's campaign, so Delay took the corporate money and funneled it through the RNC and then to the campaigns of Texas politicians -- a clear violation of both the letter and intent of the law.

Now, years later, it is time for Delay to pay the piper for his corruption.   Delay was obviously shocked at his conviction and tried to pass it off as just politics.   He said,   "This is an abuse of power.   It's a miscarriage of justice.   And I still maintain that I am innocent.   The criminalization of politics undermines our system."

That's just nonsense.   The District Attorney was not playing politics, but bringing a criminal to justice.   To prove that point, the DA pointed out that they had just convicted another politician of corruption less than a month ago -- a Democrat (Kino Flores).   DA Rosemary Lehmberg said,   "This case is a message from the citizens of the state of Texas that the public officials they elect to represent them must do so honestly, ethically or they will be held accountable."

Delay is now being held accountable.   I don't know if it's possible, but I hope his sentence is not probated.   Giving him a few years of jail time will remind all politicians (of all parties) that they are not immune to the laws all other citizens must follow.   Besides, he'll look great in a prison jumpsuit.

DeLay Finally Goes On Trial

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.

DeLay Quits "Dancing With The Stars"

It looks like America won't have Tom DeLay to make fun of on Dancing With The Stars anymore. After performing his last dance on the show, a ridiculous Samba, Delay made it known that he is quitting the show. He says he has developed stress fractures in both of his feet, and therefore could not perform at his best.

DeLay said, "If you can't practice you make a fool of yourself out there." I don't know why that would stop him though, since he's been making a fool out of himself for many years. I'll bet a lot of Republicans are happy today though, since his bad dancing was making the whole party look bad.

For his last dance on the show, DeLay wore red pants and a striped barbershop quartet-style shirt with an elephant on the back. His partner wore a blue dress with multiple stars and a donkey on it. The dance was supposed to symbolize bipartisanship between the two parties (a myth killed long ago by Republicans).

Perhaps the best comment on this final dance is by Dr. Zaius of Zaius Nation:

Delay was dressed as one fourth of a barbershop quartet with a GOP symbol of an elephant on his back, a cultural reference that only those members of the audience that are over 65 would probably understand. In this particular outfit, I felt that his costume did a really good job of representing his party and how they are viewed by the American public right now.

His dancing partner, Cheryl Burke, wore a blue dress with white stars and the Democratic symbol of a donkey on her dress. True to form to the metaphor created by the dance number, the Democrat was younger, hipper, better looking, and did all of the work while the Republican got all of the attention.

Tom DeLay Talking Rationally ?

This is a rather shocking development -- Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader for the GOP, actually making some sense. I had always thought the man was brain-dead, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe his miniscule brain was just covered with thick cobwebs from lack of use, and maybe all that dancing on TV has shaken some of those cobwebs loose.

Anyway, I can't find a lot to argue with about the things he has to say about the Republican Party in his latest interview with PoliticsDaily.com. He basically blasted the Republicans, and said they had no chance of regaining power in the mid-term elections "barring a miracle".

He also said they were a leaderless party. In fact, DeLay couldn't name a single viable leader for the Republican Party. Other than his prediction of Republicans gaining 20 seats in next year's election (which I think is a little generous), I think his other statements are pretty much on target.

Here's what he said in his own words:

"Republicans will pick up some seats in the House, maybe 20, but not enough to take back control."

"The Republican Party doesn't have the organization or leadership to take advantage of this dire political situation that Obama is in now. We have these grassroots sprouting up, but not the party organization to use them."

"Republicans are leaderless, so we're just fighting each other instead of Obama's radical policies. There's no political leader of the party taking control. So, Republicans are just attacking each other for being too far right or too far left. Even Rush and Hannity are doing it."

"It's all the same old guys who were in leadership with me, and those old guys aren't the leaders the party needs."

A Few Honest Conservatives !

Sometimes I am amazed at the actions taken by American conservatives. It is almost as if they are incapable of learning from experience.

One of the oldest conservative organizations has just taken such an amazing action. The American Conservative Union has just appointed Tom DeLay to their 33-member governing board. Never mind that he resigned from Congress in disgrace. Never mind that he still has felony charges pending against him in the state of Texas. Never mind that he was one of the reasons that voters turned against Republicans in the last election.

These guys still think it is a good idea to associate themselves with Tom DeLay. Democrats have to be laughing all the way to the next election. Why would they do this? DeLay is about as popular with today's voters as the Bubonic Plague was in the middle ages. Maybe they like his uncanny ability to attract a ton of illegal money.

This remarkably stupid move by conservatives gives Democrats exactly what they wanted. It had looked for a while like DeLay was yesterday's news, but now Democrats can point to DeLay and say, "This is what a conservative looks like!"

But there are a few honest conservatives left, who don't wish to associate themselves or their beliefs with the slime of Tom DeLay. Four members of the governing board of the ACU have resigned in protest of his appointment. They are Robert Luddy, Marc Rotterman, Tom Pauken and Craig Shirley.

Luddy said, "He was part of a congressional leadership that oversaw a massive expansion of the government, which conservatives opposed. It is one thing to call yourself a conservative, but you have to act on it."

Rotterman said, "Conservatives looked to Tom DeLay to cut government not grow it. He was complicit in the largest expansion of government in recent times."

Pauken, a fellow Texan, adds, "I just think we need to break loose from what was happening with the Republican Party in the post-Reagan era."

But it's only four out of 33 board members who seem to remember what conservatives say they believe in. The rest seem happy to associate themselves with the Texas criminal. I have to wonder what the rank-and-file believe. Are they also ready to abandon their beliefs to embrace DeLay?