Deals Reached in Texas Political Donation Inquiry (DeLay's not off hook)

[Rose Siding]

HOUSTON — Prosecutors investigating whether corporations illegally financed the Republican Party's rise to dominance in the Texas Capitol are negotiating agreements with several companies accused of making improper political donations, and analysts say the discussions could help elicit important leads in the probe.
...
Sources close to the investigation said this week that similar deals were being negotiated with some of the remaining six companies indicted late last year. The six companies are the Williams Companies Inc., Bacardi USA, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, Questerra Corp. and Westar Energy Inc.
...
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said information gleaned from the companies could be used as leverage to pressure remaining defendants and, potentially, to target more powerful members of the Republican Party in Texas and in Washington.
Prosecutors and grand juries in Travis County, which includes Austin, the capital, for two years have been conducting a criminal investigation of organizations run by Republican activists. At least one of the groups has ties to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican from Sugar Land, southwest of Houston......
...
One legal source with knowledge of the investigation said the agreements with the companies could help target "big fish" in the Republican Party by persuading the three DeLay aides to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for leniency or dismissal of their cases. The aides face 10-year prison sentences if convicted.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-delay12jan12,1,3234554.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&ctrack=3&cset=true

[davidinalameda]

1. I thought that DeLay was gonna get off scott free

thank goodness

his ass is still in the fire

bring him down and show the Americans what the Repukes are really like and what they'll do to win

[no_to_war_economy]

2. what new rules of ethics

will the GOP house of Representatives come up with after Delay's arse is nailed

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Bush will come up with a pre-end-of-term presidential pardon.

Delay will get carte blanche to operate as he wishes in Bush's last term.

[priller]

6. Fortunately, this is an Austin-led investigation

that doesn't depend on the House GOP. As long as Ronny Earle is the Travis County DA (and believe me, DeLay is trying to scuttle him), the investigation will continue.

And I agree, DeLay is not off the hook. These deals are meant to turn up the heat on DeLay. Sing, birdies, sing!!!

[s-cubed]

4. Those prosedutors better never check into hotels alone,

or they're gonna be toast.

[Gman]

5. Good question...

"If you are looking at 10 … years in jail, are you going to take the hit for Tom DeLay?" the source asked.

I'd say the choice is one of accepting 10 years or end up a dead man. Which do you want?

[sonias]

7. You don't know how grateful we are to Ronnie Earle in Texas

And this investigation has got to come to some meaningful conclusion soon. It's pretty clear the corporate contribution law in Texas was violated, but the State Legislature is back in session. And the republicans control the whole thing there. As you can see by all the comments the GOP and DeLay have been making about how this is just a partisan ploy, they mean to try to shut down Earle's jurisdiction and funding. I just hope that there's enough evidence being turned over by these corporations that will convict these crooks soon.

There is a good archive of articles following this finance scandal at this site. http://www.cleanuptexaspolitics.com/scandalblog

This is where Fred Lewis, who is quoted in this article at LA Times, has been keeping track of the crimes.


Sonia

[priller]

8. Boy, the Pukes are tiresome

"This is what we know about Ronnie Earle: He is a partisan who uses his position as a district attorney and works with the media," she said. "He simply is not credible."

They use the same tired old tactic every time one of their corrupt party members gets caught. Earle wrote an op-ed for the NY Times a few months ago where he stated that the vast majority of his investigations over the years were against Democrats, mainly because they were the party in power. Now the Pukes are in power in Texas, and the corruption is coming from them.