DeLay Offered Deal Before Indictment

[jefferson_dem]

WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor tried to persuade Rep. Tom DeLay to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and save his job as majority leader but DeLay refused, the congressman's attorney said Monday.

Dick DeGuerin described such an effort in a letter to the prosecutor in the case, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

DeLay has been indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges in a Texas campaign finance investigation, both felonies. He was obligated to step aside under House Republican rules.

"Before the first indictment you tried to coerce a guilty plea from Tom DeLay for a misdemeanor, stating the alternative was indictment for a felony which would require his stepping down as majority leader of the United States House of Representatives," DeGuerin wrote.

"He turned you down flat so you had him indicted, in spite of advice from others in your office that Tom DeLay had not committed any crime," the lawyer contended. "In short, neither lack of evidence nor lack of law has deterred you."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_go_co/delay_indictment

[Kagemusha]

1. If he has no evidence then DeGuerin can establish it in court.

This is just PR, in other words.

[TroglodyteScholar]

2. Yep.

This guy only wishes he knew what Earle does and doesn't have. Anything this fellow says is simply posturing...same as anything we hear from DeLay. DeLay knows he's broken plenty of laws, but he will put on the innocent face until the day that facts bear out a different story.

[Caution]

3. This is a standard plea bargain deal.

Accept the lesser charge and you don't get whacked for the full charge. Delay was too arrogant to take the deal and now he'll pay the price.

[hang a left]

4. Someone here predicted it probably went down like this...

however they stated that Delay backed out of his deal, which is probably the real deal. Fucking lying sacks of shit.

[hang a left]

5. btw

recommended

[woodsprite]

6. Sounds like my old boss.

They tried to get her to agree to just not handling money in her job and they'd let her keep her job despite the fact she stole over $4000 from work. Even had a great papertrail, checks written to her to reimburse her for supplies bought out of our college account. She swore up and down to the cops that she cashed the checks and put the cash in our petty cash box in her desk. First she tried to say that I stole it, then said that our network admin stole it. Then they subpeonaed her bank records. She had cashed the checks, then deposited the cash, then wrote checks against it to pay her personal bills. They even subpeonaed statements and cancelled checks from the faculty.

She was in total denial that she was doing anything wrong. She even took a lie detector test (from a friend) which proved inconclusive. She was even in denial after she was escorted off campus by the cops. I couldn't understand it then with her, AND I can't understand it now with the repubs. Oh yeah - she was a repub too. Maybe it's a gene they inherit or something.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

7. Delay's PR at work here - typical strategy - attack the attacker

This is an effective strategy and has worked often enough for the GOP to warrant its use. They are attacking Earle & not the merits of the case. They have been attacking him for almost a year & will continue to do so. Folks are starting to get wise to the strategy so it may not be as effective this time. Even if Delay is found guilty the attack against Earle will escalate - calling it a political 'witch hunt' which would be political justice since Delay is the witch hunt king - remember Clinton..

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Yeah but it won't work

If the evidence against DeLay is solid.

[Ksec]

8. DeLay Offered Deal Before Indictment

DeLay Offered Deal Before Indictment By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago



WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor tried to persuade Rep. Tom DeLay to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and save his job as majority leader but DeLay refused, the congressman's attorney said Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dick DeGuerin described such an effort in a letter to the prosecutor in the case, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. The letter accompanied motions DeGuerin filed in Austin.

DeLay has been indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges in a Texas campaign finance investigation, both felonies. He was obligated to step aside under House Republican rules.

"Before the first indictment you tried to coerce a guilty plea from Tom DeLay for a misdemeanor, stating the alternative was indictment for a felony which would require his stepping down as majority leader of the United States House of Representatives," DeGuerin wrote.

"He turned you down flat so you had him indicted, in spite of advice from others in your office that Tom DeLay had not committed any crime," the lawyer contended.

Earle had no immediate comment

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_go_co/delay_indictment

[stevedeshazer]

9. link?

[Ksec]

12. Its there now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_go_co/delay_indictment

[stevedeshazer]

14. Thanks

:)

[stevedeshazer]

18. Found another link on msnbc

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9730423/

Wow.

[Botany]

10. Grasping at straws .....

Isn't that what a drowning man does?


:rofl:

[sui generis]

11. Actually, Tom DeLay was indicted for real crime, not for

failing to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.

That's the real point.

[Tight_rope]

13. What an idiot..."The Government" I mean.

:applause:

[Beetwasher]

15. Bullshit! I Don't Buy It!

I don't believe he refused, I believe he accepted the deal and then went back on his word and started smearing Earle, so Earle slammed him w/ the money laundering charges.

[stevedeshazer]

17. That's what I think, too

It blew up in DeLay's face.

[ShockediSay]

16. Was there ever a Presidential candidate who got started as

Was there ever a Presidential candidate who got started as an honest prosecutor?

[0007]

21. Thomas Dewey just turned over in his grave.

[ShockediSay]

30. Thanks; kinda thought so - - - - - - - (n/t)

[jsamuel]

19. Sounds like Earle was being nice and giving DeLay a chance

[chat_noir]

20. love this subheading on the MSNBC article

Ex-House majority leader likely to be fingerprinted, photographed

Can't wait for the pictures!! :)

[Ksec]

22. Im having a tough time on who looks bad with this?

Delay, for raking America through the mud of his crimes or Earle who gave Delay a chance to escape the punishment he so richly deserves?

[readmylips]

23. DeLay trying to make the DA the focus of the story...

If the bugman keeps insulting and challenging the DA, he thinks the DA will get angry and fire back at him. Then, buggy can be on TV again making the DA the center of the story. Mr. Bugman, you're a criminal.

[Mz Pip]

25. Sooo glad he didn't take the deal

I want a copy of that mug shot to decorate my wall.

Me thinks, that pix will be decorating a lot of walls in the coming days. :evilgrin:

Mz Pip
:dem:

[UTUSN]

26. You Should Have Taken the Deal, De-Plane!-De-Plane!!!!!!!! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

27. Texas Rep. DeLay rejected plea bargain -lawyer

Texas Rep. DeLay rejected plea bargain -lawyer
Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:56 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Tom DeLay turned down a chance to plead guilty to a misdemeanor before the former House Republican leader was indicted on felony money laundering and conspiracy charges, his lawyer said in a letter made public on Monday.

In the letter to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, DeLay's lawyer urged that the case be dismissed, saying the indictments were sought improperly.

"Before the first indictment you tried to coerce a guilty plea from Tom DeLay for a misdemeanor, stating the alternative was indictment for a felony which would require his stepping down as Majority Leader of the House of Representatives," attorney Dick DeGuerin wrote.

"He turned you down flat so you had him indicted, in spite of advice from others in your office that Tom DeLay had not committed any crime," the letter said.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-10-18T025612Z_01_FOR810552_RTRUKOC_0_US-DELAY.xml

[Judi Lynn]

28. Here's an article which might make you smirk!

Green Says He Needs Dirty Tom DeLay Money to Defeat Governor Doyle
Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Green Finally Reveals Real Reason Why He Won’t Clean Campaign of Tainted Money

MADISON – After coming up with excuse after excuse in his refusal to get rid of the tainted money he’s taken from Tom DeLay, Congressman Mark Green has finally revealed why he really won’t clean his campaign of the dirty cash: he wants to be able to spend the DeLay money in his run for Governor.

Green’s campaign manager Mark Graul yesterday rejected calls by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for Green to give the more than $30,000 he’s taken from DeLay to a nonpartisan campaign to increase voter registration or participation.

“We need the money to beat Jim Doyle,” Graul said.

Graul also said that Green may return some contributions to the indicted former House Majority Leader DeLay, only if DeLay is convicted of his crimes.

“Mark Green has finally shown his true colors, and it turns out the color is dirty green,” said Joe Wineke, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “After two weeks of excuses, Green has finally admitted he won’t get rid of the tainted DeLay money because he wants to use it to finance his campaign for Governor.”
(snip/...)

http://www.wisdems.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/684544

I'd rate this story TWO SMIRKS!

[Judi Lynn]

29. DeLay politics may carry heavy price

Posted 10/17/2005 11:05 PM Updated 10/17/2005 11:06 PM

DeLay politics may carry heavy price

By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
Over lunch at the Sunset Grove Country Club in Orange, Texas, businessman Pete Cloeren lamented to Rep. Tom DeLay that he couldn't do more to help his friend Brian Babin get elected to Congress. Cloeren had personally given all he was allowed, and the law wouldn't let him donate money from his plastics company.

DeLay had a solution, Cloeren said. "There are ways we get money moved around the system," Cloeren recalls him saying. "He told us at the lunch table that this was done all the time."

The day after the lunch in 1996, Cloeren says, a DeLay aide called with instructions to donate to several out-of-state political committees and candidates. After Cloeren did so, those committees directed like amounts to Babin's campaign.

Cloeren later pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations, but the man he says advised him escaped any consequences. The Federal Election Commission dismissed Cloeren's complaint against DeLay for lack of evidence, and DeLay denied wrongdoing.
(snip/...)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-10-17-delay-politics_x.htm

[Judi Lynn]

31. DA 'tried to coerce' DeLay, his lawyer says

Oct. 17, 2005, 11:53PM

DA 'tried to coerce' DeLay, his lawyer says
DeGuerin says Earle pushed for a felony when his plea deal rejected
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
REP. TOM DELAY

AUSTIN - U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's lead attorney Monday said Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle offered to let the congressman plead guilty to a misdemeanor but indicted him on a felony when DeLay refused.

The plea offer was mentioned in a letter to Earle from attorney Dick DeGuerin of Houston that accompanied motions to dismiss the indictments against DeLay. DeGuerin also asked that DeLay be severed from two co-defendants so he could be tried as quickly as possible.

DeLay, R-Sugar Land, was forced to step down as House majority leader after a grand jury under Earle's direction returned the first of two felony indictments against DeLay last month.

DeGuerin said Earle made the plea offer in the context of DeLay keeping his House leadership post.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3401006
(Free registration required)

[depakid]

32. Gee, really?

Isn't that what DA's do all over the country tens of thousands of time every day?

So what does Delay's attorney think- that his client is above the law?

Oh, never mind- don't answer that.

[Moochy]

33. Wow i better head to bed

I read that subject as "DU tried to coerce' DeLay, his lawyer says"

First reaction was wow he's reading DU! lol gnite

[Judi Lynn]

34. Tom DeLay a Boon to Both Democrats and GOP

Tom DeLay a Boon to Both Democrats and GOP

Seeking to capitalize financially on the increased national visibility of former House majority leader Tom DeLay, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is joining forces with DeLay's likely Democratic opponent in Texas's 22nd District to raise money from national donors.

Former congressman Nick Lampson and the DCCC will launch "Lampson Victory 2006" with an event tomorrow night at the Democratic National Committee that will feature House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). To serve as a "chair" for the event, an individual must either donate or raise $25,000; a political action committee needs to contribute just $15,000 to qualify for "chair" status.

Lampson Victory 2006 is a joint fundraising committee, which allows the donations to be split between Lampson and the DCCC. The two entities will also divvy up the costs of the committee's overhead.

After the D.C. event tomorrow, Lampson will tour the country (or at least the Democratic fundraising hot spots) to collect cash for the committee. Stops are scheduled in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Boston
(snip/...)

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2005/10/delays_money_.html
(Free registration required)

[Judi Lynn]

35. US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay

Delay & Company
Hanwha Funds Korea-US Exchange Council
GOP Leader Tom DeLay's Troubles Mount

US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay

Ed Buckham's name was one you didn't hear much outside the secluded corridor where he worked on the first floor of the Capitol. But in that suite, which houses the majority whip's offices, Buckham was far more than an ordinary congressional aide in the three heady years following the Republican takeover of the House in 1994. Thanks to an unusually close and trusting relationship with his boss, Tom DeLay's chief of staff quietly became one of the most powerful people in Washington. "He was the guy DeLay turned to when he made a final decision," recalls a former aide to a member of the House Republican leadership, "and even after he made the final decision, the guy who could talk him out of it." What even fewer people outside that office knew was that the two shared a bond that transcended power and politics: Buckham, a licensed nondenominational minister, was also DeLay's pastor. For a while, in DeLay's early days as whip, they organized daily voluntary prayer sessions for the staff —until it began making some aides uncomfortable. After that, according to two sources who worked in the office at the time, the two of them frequently prayed together privately, joining hands in DeLay's office.

Buckham shared not only DeLay's religious faith but also his audacious vision for harnessing the financial and political clout of business and conservative interests to carry out the G.O.P. agenda and increase its majority in Congress. DeLay offered lobbyists the best seats they had ever had at the table, a say in legislative and political strategy, on the understanding that they in return would pour millions into DeLay's favored causes and candidates. In addition, he threatened to shut out lobbying shops that employed Democrats. In Washington that seamless coordination between his office and the lobbying corridor of K Street has become known as DeLay Inc. It developed the muscle to push or block pretty much everything DeLay asked for, from protecting tax breaks for low-wage garment manufacturers on the Northern Mariana Islands (where DeLay spent New Year's Day 1998 with his wife and Buckham) to creating a Medicare prescription-drug plan that critics say is a better deal for pharmaceutical companies than it is for seniors.

Now the machinery that DeLay and his pastor built threatens to derail DeLay. He was slapped three times last year by the House ethics committee for violations of House rules, and finds himself potentially facing more serious trouble on multiple fronts. Each day seems to bring another embarrassing headline and more lawmakers' being caught up in allegations of impropriety that surround the lobbyists —many, like Buckham, former DeLay staff members — who have traded on their access to him. The Washington Post reported last week that DeLay (as well as six other Representatives from both parties and several congressional aides) had over the past four years accepted trips to South Korea, paid for by a registered foreign agent—a violation of House rules.

As it happens, the foreign agent in question — a group called the Korea- U.S. Exchange Council, funded largely by the Korean holding company Hanwha Group — lists its address as the same waterfront Georgetown office suite as Buckham's lobbying business. Edward Stewart, who not only manages international business for Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group but also is the Korean group's Washington representative, declined to comment on the controversy. Buckham, 46, did not return telephone calls and e-mails seeking an interview. The lawmakers named by the Post, including DeLay, say they were not aware that the group was a foreign agent. Indeed, it didn't register as one until three days before DeLay left for his trip to South Korea in August 2001.
(snip/...)

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=1649

[Judi Lynn]

36. DeLay prosecution decried as McCarthyism

DeLay prosecution decried as McCarthyism
Defense lawyers press for evidence cited in indictment, dispute existence of candidates list.
Past coverage and related documents
By Laylan Copelin

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, October 15, 2005

A lawyer for one of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's co-defendants likened the prosecution of the Sugar Land Republican and his aides to McCarthyism after the two sides squabbled in court Friday over the existence of a piece of evidence.

Lawyers for Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, indicted with DeLay on charges that they conspired to launder corporate money into political donations, complained that prosecutors had not provided the list of candidates' names that Ellis allegedly gave officials at the Republican National Committee.

The three are accused of giving $190,000 in corporate money to the RNC, which, two weeks later, gave the same amount in political donations to seven Texas candidates during the 2002 election.

In court, prosecutors provided a list but declined to promise it was the same list cited in the conspiracy indictments. They suggested that the list, which included the names of 17 Texas candidates, might have been a precursor to the final list given to the committee.
(snip)

"In the 1950s, a man named (Joe) McCarthy claimed to have a list of 200 communists in the State Department," Pauerstein said. "And he didn't."

Pauerstein's rhetoric matched the tone of recent attacks that Republicans and their allies are aiming at Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, including a television commercial comparing Earle to an attack dog.
(snip/...)

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/metro_state_3405ba87d02f505a1000.html
(Free registration required)