A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, prompting the Sugar Land Republican to give up his leadership post in Congress.
"I have notified (House Speaker Dennis Hastert) that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today," DeLay said in a statement.
The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.
State law generally bars corporate money from campaign-related activity. DeLay and his associates have insisted the corporate money was legally spent on committee overhead or issue advertising and not campaign-related activity.
The Clinton Adminstration took money from the Chinese government, but corporate money is tainted? Still, it will give Delay just the time he needs to find cuts in federal budget.
UPDATE: WaPo isnt buying.
UPDATE #2: Don't miss the movie.
UPDATE #3: Powerline has an interesting theory.
1 comment:
I heard an audio clip today of Nancy Pelosi ranting about "bringing ethical integrity back to the White House" -- are you *!@#!! kidding me?!! If that's your election strategy, good luck.
The Democrat machine is very stubborn: say stuff enough times and it becomes true, and then ride it to election. Trouble is, the basic premise does work pretty well much of the time.
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