HOUSTON, Sept. 28 - Being vilified as a "rogue district attorney," a "fanatic" and "an unabashed partisan zealot," among other epithets, was not the worst part of his day, said Ronnie Earle, hours after announcing the indictment of Representative Tom DeLay and two associates.
"Mostly, I haven't had any lunch," said Mr. Earle, the Travis County prosecutor, speaking from his office in Austin. "I ate an energy bar. It helped a little. That stopped me from gnawing on people's heads."
Mr. Earle, 63, an institution and endangered species - a Texas Democrat - now in his eighth elected four-year term, said he was ignoring the attacks by Mr. DeLay and his supporters after Mr. DeLay, the powerful Texas Republican and House majority leader, was charged with conspiring to violate Texas election law by contributing corporate money to candidates for the Texas Legislature in 2002.
But Mr. Earle would not let it pass, it turned out. "I find they often accuse others of doing what they themselves do," he said. "And what else are they going to say?"
"This is about protecting the integrity of our electoral system and I couldn't just ignore it," he said.>>>>snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/politics/29earle.html?ex=1285646400&en=7ad274c0a5bdc318&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss