Felony Charge Is Upheld for DeLay 

But Election Code Conspiracy Count Is Dismissed 

R. JEFFREY SMITH & JONATHAN WEISMAN / Washington Post 6dec2005

[other articles below — Reuters and AP]

A Texas judge yesterday dismissed on legal grounds an indictment of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for conspiring with aides to violate the state's election law in 2002, while upholding felony charges stemming from alleged money laundering in connection with the Texas election that year.

The decision to affirm the money-laundering allegation was a blow to DeLay, whose lawyers had hoped the judge would dismiss all of the indictments and allow him to regain the leadership post he relinquished in September under rules barring such posts to lawmakers accused of felonies.

The ruling clears a key obstacle to DeLay's criminal trial in Texas, possibly beginning next month, although his aides noted that the judge still has not ruled on another DeLay claim that the Texas prosecutor who brought the charges had engaged in misconduct.

Senior District Judge Pat Priest, who took over the case after DeLay's lawyers objected to another judge on political grounds, did not rule in his 11-page decision on the issue of DeLay's culpability. In a slap at Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle, who oversaw the DeLay inquiry, Priest said a grand jury had erred in indicting DeLay for conspiracy when that crime was actually not covered by the state election law when it occurred.

But Priest also said that a different indictment — hastily secured by Earle from a different grand jury after he realized the conspiracy charge might be flawed — was worth hearing at trial. That indictment alleged in essence that DeLay and his associates illegally injected corporate funds into the 2002 campaign by transferring $190,000 to Republican headquarters in Washington in the expectation that the same total amount would be returned to Texas Republican candidates.

If the state can prove that "these defendants entered into [such] an agreement . . . then they will have established that money was laundered. The money would have become 'dirty money' at the point that it began to be held with prohibited intent," Priest wrote in his decision, which he posted on his Web site and filed with the court clerk in late afternoon.

His decision leaves standing Oct. 3 charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering involving financial transactions in September and October 2002, which both DeLay and the Republican National Committee say were legal and commonplace at the time.

DeLay has already acknowledged, in public statements and in an interview with the Texas prosecutor, that the funds at issue were raised to help Republicans gain control of the Texas House and oversee the legislature's redrawing of Texas congressional districts. The aim of this effort was to favor the election of more Republicans to Congress, and it succeeded: Five more Republicans were elected from Texas in 2004, cementing the party's control of Congress.

Career attorneys at the Justice Department, in a decision reached in 2003 that came to light only last week, concluded that the new map of congressional districts that DeLay and his aides drew had illegally discriminated against minorities for partisan political reasons. But political appointees at the department overruled this finding, and certified that the map could stand.

In his ruling, Priest explicitly rejected a claim by DeLay's lawyers that no crime occurred because the transactions at issue involved checks and the state law covered only transfers of cash. Priest also did not accept claims that the indictment was improperly written, that the corporate donations were legal, or that no money laundering occurred because the funds sent from Texas were deposited in a different bank account in Washington than the one used to send funds from Washington to the state Republican candidates.

On the other hand, Priest ruled that the grand jury had no legal foundation to indict DeLay and his associates on separate charges of conspiracy to violate the state election law. Earle's arguments in favor of the indictment "are not persuasive," Priest said, noting that the law was amended to include the offense in 2003 and "the presumption is that the Legislature does not do a useless act."

DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden emphasized this part of the judge's decision in his comments. "The court's decision to dismiss a portion of Ronnie Earle's manufactured and flawed case against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were. The judge's ruling, along with the recusal motion previously granted, represents yet another legal victory."

DeLay, Madden said, "is very encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings and looks forward to his eventual and absolute exoneration based on the facts and the law."

The Bush administration has repeatedly signaled its continued support for DeLay, who until recently has been a powerful ally on tax, health, regulation and other domestic policy issues. Last evening, Vice President Cheney was slated to appear at a fundraiser for him in Houston, an event scheduled before the judge's decision.

But DeLay still faces obstacles to a political resurrection. Before his trial can begin, the judge must decide on a motion by DeLay's attorneys to move it from Austin and the prosecutorial misconduct motion; that could delay its conclusion until well into the new year.

DeLay's leadership position has been temporarily assumed by Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.), and no new vote is planned. But a former GOP leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of crossing DeLay, said that among House Republicans "the overwhelming feeling is if things are not squared away by the time they come back in January, there will be a petition dropped on the speaker's desk for an election" to permanently replace him.

DeLay also faces hurdles in his political district. In a Gallup poll of DeLay's congressional district, released last night by CNN, just 36 percent of registered voters said they would support the congressman in November's election. Forty-nine percent said they would support his Democratic opponent. Only 37 percent of registered voters had a favorable opinion of their representative, vs. 52 percent who viewed him unfavorably.

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120500426_pf.html 5dec2005

Judge Allows DeLay Trial on Money Laundering 

REUTERS 5dec2005

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas judge dismissed part of a criminal indictment against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on Monday but upheld other charges that will put the powerful Republican lawmaker on trial for money laundering.

State Judge Pat Priest dismissed conspiracy charges against DeLay and two co-defendants, saying the actions were not a crime at the time DeLay was charged with violating them.

But Priest upheld the money laundering charges against DeLay, who was forced to step down as House of Representatives Majority Leader in September when he was first indicted for his role in the Texas campaign financing controversy.

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for DeLay in Washington, portrayed Priest's ruling as a legal victory for the congressman, who has denied any wrongdoing.

``The court's decision to dismiss a portion of Ronnie Earle's manufactured and flawed case against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were,'' Madden said. Earle is the prosecutor who brought the case in the state capital of Austin.

The charges are part of a widening political scandal around DeLay, who has been accused of several ethical violations in recent years and whose former top aide and press secretary, Michael Scanlon, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials in a separate case in Washington.

A number of other senior Republicans are also being investigated. The U.S. Justice Department in Washington is probing the dealings of Jack Abramoff, a once-powerful lobbyist who also had links to DeLay and worked with Scanlon.

Last week California Republican Rep. Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham resigned from the House after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for help in securing Defense Department contracts.

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist is being investigated for possible financial wrongdoing.

DEMOCRATS TARGET DELAY

Democrats have made DeLay, 58, a top target in next year's congressional elections, portraying him as a face of what they describe as a ``culture of corruption'' in the Republican-led Congress.

In the Austin case involving his Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (TRMPAC) DeLay has blamed what he calls a Democratic plot to oust him from power because he succeeded in advancing a conservative political agenda.

DeLay and colleagues Jim Ellis and John Colyandro are accused of laundering $190,000 in corporate donations to TRMPAC through the Republican National Committee for distributing to Republican candidates to the Texas Legislature in the 2002 state campaign.

Texas law forbids the use of corporate money in political campaigns.

TRMPAC helped the party take control of the state legislature in 2002 for the first time since the late 1800s. Under DeLay's guidance, the legislature redrew congressional districts to increase the number of Republicans elected to Congress from Texas.

The DeLay team had been hoping for a full dismissal, which would have let him reclaim his leadership post and ended the matter long before the November 2006 congressional elections.

DeLay previously had asked for a trial as soon as possible.

Priest said the state has until December 20 to appeal the dismissal and that he did not intend to set a date — or rule on a request to move the trial out of heavily Democratic Austin — until after prosecutors acted.

Earle's office said it had not decided whether to appeal and refused to comment on Priest's decision. DeLay also has another request pending for dismissal of the remaining counts based on a charge of prosecutorial misconduct.

Coincidentally, a major DeLay fund-raising starring Vice President Dick Cheney was scheduled in Houston on Monday night.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-delay.html?pagewanted=print 5dec2005

DeLay's Money Laundering Charges Upheld

APRIL CASTRO / AP 5dec2005

AUSTIN, Texas - A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out far more serious allegations of money-laundering, dashing the congressman's hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.

Texas Judge Pat Priest, who is presiding over the case against the Republican, issued the ruling after a hearing late last month in which DeLay's attorney argued that the indictment was fatally flawed.

When he was indicted in September, DeLay was required under House rules to relinquish the leadership post he had held since 2003. While Monday's ruling was a partial victory for DeLay, he cannot reclaim his post because he remains under indictment.

The ruling means the case will move toward a trial next year, though other defense objections to the indictments remain to be heard by the judge.

DeLay declined to speak with reporters Monday evening as he entered a campaign fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney at a Houston hotel.

But DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said the court's decision "underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were."

DeLay "is very encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings and looks forward to his eventual and absolute exoneration based on the facts and the law," Madden said.

In a written statement, prosecutor Ronnie Earle's office said authorities had made no decision about whether to appeal. Prosecutors have 15 days to challenge the decision.

DeLay, 58, and two GOP fundraisers, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, are accused of illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate donations to 2002 Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature. Under Texas law, corporate money cannot be directly used for political campaigns, but it can be used for administrative purposes.

In asking that the case be thrown out, DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued that one of the charges — conspiracy to violate the Texas election code — did not even take effect until September 2003, a year after the alleged offenses occurred.

Prosecutors, however, said the crime of conspiracy was already on the books, and could be applied to the election code even though such uses were not explicitly in state law at the time.

The judge was unpersuaded by that argument and dismissed the conspiracy charge. But the judge upheld charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges involve an alleged attempt by DeLay to conceal the source of the campaign contributions by funneling the money through his own political action committee and then an arm of the Republican National Committee.

In trying to have those charges thrown out, the defense argued that the Texas money laundering law does not apply to funds in the form of a check, just coins or paper money. But the judge said that checks "are clearly funds and can be the subject of money laundering."

The defense attorneys also argued that the definition of money laundering in Texas involves the transfer of criminal proceeds. Because the money in this case was not illegal to begin with, they argued, money laundering never occurred.

But the judge rejected that argument, too, saying the money became suspect when "it began to be held with the prohibited intent."

He said if prosecutors can prove that DeLay and his associates obtained the corporate donations "with the express intent of converting those funds to the use of individual candidates," or that they converted money legally collected by sending it to the RNC and asking for the same amount to be sent back to Texas candidates, "then they will have established that money was laundered."

Conspiracy to violate the election code carries up to two years in prison. Money laundering is punishable by five years to life. Conspiracy to commit money laundering carries two years.

The alleged campaign-finance scheme had far-reaching political effects: With DeLay's fundraising muscle, the GOP took control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years, then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that resulted in more Texas Republicans going to Congress.

At the court hearing last month, DeLay's lawyers asked for a quick decision on their request for a dismissal, and, if the ruling went against DeLay, a prompt trial, in hopes that he could regain his leadership post by the time the House reconvenes in late January. But the judge said at the time that it was unlikely the case would go to trial before the first of the year.

Norm Ornstein, an analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, said DeLay's chances of regaining his leadership job were "slim to none."

"You've got a lot of people who privately view DeLay as so radioactive," said Ornstein, a frequent critic of DeLay. The congressman is also linked to an ongoing investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The judge has yet to rule on a defense bid to move DeLay's trial out of liberal, Democratic-leaning Austin and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. DeGuerin accused the district attorney of shopping the DeLay case around to different grand juries until he found one that would indict the congressman.

The judge acted as a CNN-USA Today/Gallup poll showed that DeLay's political standing has weakened considerably in his home district around Houston.

The survey found that 49 percent of registered voters questioned said they are more likely to vote for a Democratic challenger than for DeLay in 2006. It also indicated that 55 percent said DeLay probably or definitely broke campaign finance laws.

Associated Press Writer Suzanne Gamboa in Washington contributed to this report.

source: http://ap.lancasteronline.com/6/delay 5dec2005