NYT: No Arrest Warrant To Be Issued Against Tom DeLay

[GOPAgainstGW]

September 30, 2005

No Arrest Warrant To Be Issued Against Tom DeLay
DeLay Goes on Radio and TV to Proclaim Innocence
By PHILIP SHENON

<snip>

Mr. DeLay went on radio and television as his lawyers claimed their first procedural victory in the case.

They said a trial judge had agreed not to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. DeLay and would let him appear voluntarily at a court hearing next month in Austin, the Texas capital.

The decision spared Mr. DeLay a potentially awkward encounter with the police in Travis County, where the indictment was issued, and the possibility that he might be handcuffed in front of cameras.

A lawyer for Mr. DeLay, Dick DeGuerin, said in a telephone interview that the decision by Judge Bob Perkins of the 331st Judicial Criminal District Court, a Democrat, was "the right thing to do."

<snip>

The indictment does not charge that Mr. DeLay was personally involved in the transactions or in drawing up the list of candidates. Mr. DeLay said Thursday that he did not know about the transfer at the time. "I had nothing to do with day-to-day operations," he said of Texans for a Republican Majority. "I didn't know who they had targeted. I did not know where the money went." He insisted, however, that he was certain that all the transactions were legal and had been approved by the committee lawyers, adding that his associates were "instructed to check with lawyers on every decision."

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30delay.html

==============

GOPA says:>> Many of us here in Houston that have been working for years to drag down DeLay, and key members of the Papa Bush Family Texas Mafia, are VERY disappointed with the weakness of this DeLay indictment. The entire indictement is only about ONE transaction, with no specific detailed direct involvement that nails DeLay.

[GOPAgainstGW]

1. I Guess We Won't Be Seeing These DeLay Arrest Pics:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. Thanks for the photoshop effort

It gave me great satisfaction.

If I committed a felony, they'd sure pick me up. WTF?

[Walt Starr]

3. He still must be fingerprinted and have a mugshot taken. n/t

[halobeam]

4. OK,

Not really. Fu** it. That about sums it up for me.

[GOPAgainstGW]

13. Unless the Case Dropped, Yelp Fingerprinted & "Hot Tub Tom" Mugs-eom

[Double T]

5. All the crooks in the republican party receive 'gentle handling' after....

they have been indicted for their crimes.

[Branjor]

8. Plus airtime to proclaim their innocence on TV n/t

[ET Awful]

6. So, a DEMOCRATIC judge decided not to issue an arrest warrant?

Geee, that kind of blows the whole "it's all partisan" argument out fo the water doesn't it?

[converted_democrat]

7. There is already speculation that Delay copped a deal...............

and it makes good sense. Why else would he waive the statute of limitation on a charge when the statute of limitation had run out? It does not make any sense unless he copped a deal, to avoid bigger charges. I assume Delay has a decent lawyer, why would he EVER advise him to do this, unless it was for a deal???

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/29/11568/3496

[marions ghost]

9. for the wealthy white collar criminal

there is ALWAYS a different set of rules....

Why does it take YEARS to drag down these guys? Could it be that the system doesn't work very well when it comes to white collar crimes?

[Canuckistanian]

10. I dunno, I think he's a flight risk..

These hardened criminals can be dangerous. Would you want one walking around in your neighborhood? He can even hang around schoolyards, legally!

What will we tell the children?

[Inland]

11. If Delay has a passport, make him turn it over now.

That's as far as I would quibble. The guy is tied up representing corporations and right wing christians in congress at the moment.

[GOPAgainstGW]

12. DeLay To Remain Powerful Adviser to House Leaders

WASHINGTON — Indicted Texas Rep. Tom DeLay will serve as a "very powerful adviser" to the Republican leadership while he battles the conspiracy charge that forced him to step aside as House majority leader, a GOP spokesman said Thursday. "His experience and insight for over a decade of the Republican majority is invaluable to our leadership and to our members and will be used wisely," said Ron Bonjean, spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Hastert and DeLay — two longtime allies — met privately in the Capitol one day after the Texan was charged with a single count of conspiracy by a Texas grand jury investigating alleged violations of state election law. The disclosure shadowed Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt's first day as temporary majority leader. A continuing role for DeLay raised questions about the extent of the powers Blunt will hold.

<snip>

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/DeLay_Poli...
September29, 2005

===GOPA NOTE=====

Records on file with the Federal Election Commission show that new House Majority Leader Roy Blunt's political action committee has paid roughly $88,000 in fees since 2003 to a consultant facing indictment in Texas in the same case as DeLay.

Keri Ann Hayes, executive director of the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, said officials of the organization have not discussed whether to end the relationship with the consultant, Jim Ellis, in light of his indictment. "We haven't had that conversation," she said, adding that so far, Ellis' indictment had no impact on his work.

In Texas, DeLay's nickname is "Hot Tub Tom", for his J. R. Ewing days of heavy boozing and women chasing before DeLay became a "Christian"

[KittyWampus]

14. But Delay Made A Deal Waiving His Right To Time Limits, No?

listen, it's almost a given Delay will get off and even get re-elected.

Hopefully a Democratic win in 06 and then in 08 will lead to Federal charges against him.

Delay's time is coming. For now let him be a millstone around the GOP's neck.

[KharmaTrain]

15. A Deal Has Been Struck

I keep seeing stories saying Bugman will plead Nolo Contendre (no contest) to the charges...be fined and get a suspended sentence. Nope...sorry kids, no jump suit, no perp walk...even no trial.

Instead, he will has been bucked out of his leadership role...at least until 2007 (especially if Democrats can win seats in the House) and slide into the money pit that is K Street. This dude has planted a lot of his own people at the largest firms and still has a very powerful roldex.

So...consider it a victory that he's been busted out, but he's definitely not gone...and he must be a poster-child for the dysfunction and corruption that Repugnican rule represents. If we paint him properly, he'll help elect Democrats for the next 2 election cycles.

[Walt Starr]

16. If he cops a plea, he has to resign under the rules

Well, not exactly, but he can't vote and he can't be on a committee and Traficant was the last Congresscritter convicted of a felony.

If he cut a plea bargain, his days are numbered.

[KharmaTrain]

17. That's A Federal Conviction

DeLay's facing state charges. I'm not sure how this affects his standing to hold a federal office as there probably is no federal law he directly violated.

Again, I expect DeLay to slither onto K Street where his power will build anew and in a far more stealth manner. That is, unless, a certain Hurricane Abramoff brewing off the coast of Miami, Guam, Annapolis, Helena and several Indian Reservations, really hits town.

Cheers...

[Walt Starr]

22. Nope, ANY conviction

Read House Rule 23 Section 10:

[KharmaTrain]

25. We Were Discussing This

Walt, I'm surely not disputing.

There was a chat room discussion about House rules. One person had that rule and several ethic violations that could result in expulsion even without a conviction.

One person pointed out that there have been convicted felons who continued to serve. Jay Kimm of California voted on Clinton's impeachment and was wearing an ankle braclet after he had been convicted, but was allowed to stay on since his case was on appeal.

Now, I remembered Kimm and the stories about his bracelet. I also remember he had just lost his re-election (I guess a convict can also run) and the vote was in the lame duck session.

Somehow there's some fleshing out among all this info.

[Walt Starr]

26. Rule 23 Section 10 was altered after Traficant

If convicted of any crime that may carry two years in jail, a member cannot participate in committees or vote on any matter on teh floor.

[KharmaTrain]

28. Two Years? A Question

I'm curious what the penalty in DeLay's case is.

Also, with nolo contendre, he could plead to a lesser sentence that could fall under that two years...thus disgraced, ala Clinton, but not forced from office.

Also, does this disqualify him from re-running for that seat in 2008?

Considering how the "Ethics" committee is so twisted up, I smell ways for him to remain very much in control.

[Walt Starr]

35. The maximimum penalty is...

two years.

If there was a plea bargain, then he'll be pleaing to the conspiracy charge.

No, he can even run next year, he just wouldn't be able to vote for himself.

[GOPAgainstGW]

18. DeLay's New Attorney, Dick DeGuerin is A Very Good Texas Attorney

GOPA Says........

Bottom line, Dick DeGuerin is another big-time Texas sleazebag, like DeLay, but he knows how to work the corrupt Texas Courts and is very good in criminal trials. Dick takes on very weird and high visibility cases for the challenge and the ego of the cases. The last big case DeGuerin won had EVERYONE in Texas and the U.S. shaking their heads. I remember Dan Abrams, on the MSNBC “The Abrams Report” could hardly contain himself during a post trial interview with four of the jurors on DeGuerin last big case win. I couldn't believe it either.

Last year, in Galveston County, DeGuerin defended Robert Durst, heir to a New York real estate fortune, who admitted killing and dismembering an unfortunate victim in Galveston. After killing the victim, Durst cut up the body and threw it into Galveston Bay. Durst was a suspect in another California killing at the time and had moved to Galveston posing as a deaf-mute woman and lived in a dingy apartment, despite his considerable wealth. At the trial, Durst testified he accidentally shot his neighbor as the two struggled for a gun. Durst said he panicked, cut up the body and dumped the pieces in the Bay, all of which were discovered except the head.

Durst jumped bail on the Galveston charge and was arrested in Pennsylvania for stealing a chicken sandwich while carrying two guns and $38,000. Bottom line, DeGuerin got Durst acquitted on the capital murder charge, on the grounds of self-defense, but they nailed Durst for the guns and tampering with evidence - that would be dismembering the corpse. They let him slide on the chicken sandwich charge. I swear, I'm not making up any of this. Net-net Durst got seven months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, plus a $30,000 fine.

That's how good Dick DeGuerin was in this trial. It was another O.J. Simpson style debacle.

DeGuerin-Durst at Trial in Galveston Country


Noticed in looking at videos this morning of DeLay yesterday on TV, he was not his upbeat, smiley, charming, shiny face self like Wed, when he did all the TV talk shows circuit. A couple of times Hot Tub Tom also lost it, and let the real DeLay come out in the interviews.

Gee, thank God the Judith Miller news came out late yesterday, (that her secret source was Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff) to bury up this DeLay indictment all over the news. Of course, everyone knows that Cheney and DeLay are joined at the hip on running Congress and the BushCo U.S. policy agenda.



Gosh, hope Hot Tub has had his annual distemper shot, lol! Doesn't DeLay remind you of Nixon's "I'm not a crook" line in his speech on Watergate.

[BikeWriter]

IMO, Dick DeGuerin is The Best Texas Attorney.

Let's hope he slips up this time.

[dogday]

19. Screw the arrest, convict the Bastard

come on, he is knee deep in it and something has got to stick to this criminal. Frankly I think no one is above the law and that includes DeLoser being arrested for charges like everyone else. The Grand Jury makes many indictments every day and those people get arrested, I assure you.

[GOPAgainstGW]

20. Hot Tub DeLay Late-Night Media Jokes

"Republican majority leader Tom DeLay was indicted and he was stripped of his congressional leadership powers. When asked what it feels like to lose all his power, DeLay said, 'I feel like a Democrat.'" - Conan O'Brien

"Today a Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. This is the most embarrassing thing to happen to the Republicans since yesterday." - Jay Leno

"Tom DeLay said he had a new priority in life -- outlawing prison rape." - Jay Leno

"Remember when Republicans, like Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston, when they got in trouble it was for sex scandals? See Tom DeLay is in trouble for money. Or as Republicans would call it - this is a return to traditional values." - Jay Leno

"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he is innocent of all wrongdoing and is the victim of a plot by the Democrats. Fox News does too; they've been spinning this story so hard they had to give the staff Dramamine today." - Jimmy Kimmel

"It has now been revealed that a Washington lobbyist personally paid for Tom DeLay's trips using his own credit card. Even more embarrassing, the lobbyist also put the purchase of Tom DeLay on his credit card." - Jay Leno

"Big scare down in Washington earlier today. Turned out it was a false alarm. What it was was a lobbyist airlifting money to Tom DeLay." - David Letterman

"Did you know today was take your daughter to work day? Tom DeLay celebrated by taking his daughter to work. He also took his wife, two cousins, and a couple lobbyists" - Jay Leno

"Bush was briefly moved to an underground bunker when an aircraft entered restricted airspace over Washington. ... A false alarm - it was just Tom DeLay on another free trip paid for by lobbyists." - Jay Leno

"It's spring time. It was so nice in Washington Tom DeLay was accepting cash in the park." - David Letterman

"A man in West Bend, Wisconsin who bought a shirt at the local goodwill store found $2,000 stuffed inside the pocket, isn't that amazing? The more amazing part is how did one of Tom DeLay's old shirts wind up in Wisconsin?" - Jay Leno

"Down in Washington D.C. the feds jumped a guy who was behaving suspiciously and carrying two large suitcases. Turns out it kind of had a funny ending: he's not a terrorist and the suitcases were full of cash for Tom Delay." - David Letterman

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraq's new leaders against hiring their friends and family members for government jobs, and then Majority Leader Tom Delay gave the rebuttal." - Jay Leno

"It was reported that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay took several ethically questionable golf trips paid for by foreign lobbyists and that his wife and daughter were paid $500,000 from his own political action committee. DeLay referred to the allegations as 'just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me with my own actions words and illegal doings." - Tina Fey

"Tom DeLay is in a little bit of trouble. He says he didn't know that lobbying groups were illegally funding the trips he took all over the world. Don't you love this? When ever these guys are running for office they always tell us how smart they are, how knowledgeable they are, how they know what's going on. As soon as they get caught doing something wrong 'I'm an idiot. I didn't know what was going on.'" - Jay Leno

[Bassic]

21. Well he's getting away with it...

what a surprise.. I am so shocked....

[lovuian]

23. why does he get out of this??? When so many others have to

go through this process!!!

[GOPAgainstGW]

27. Because This is Only a Weak Quasi-Felony Charge in Texas.....

and all about only ONE transaction with no concrete direct evidence presented to-date by the DA nailing DeLay as to direct involvement.

[Seansky]

24. Even if evil prevails again, their power has been really shaken

and the country has had to learn, again, the price we pay for sitting things out so often..

Disappointing.

[GOPAgainstGW]

29. Grand Jury Deny DeLay Didn't Get Chance To Tell His Side

Others (Grand Jury) Deny DeLay Didn't Get Chance To Tell His Side
By JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle
Sept. 30, 2005, 8:14AM

AUSTIN - The day after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's grand jury indictment, his lawyer and the jury foreman on Thursday appeared to contradict the Texas politician's assertions that he was not given a chance to speak before the jury. The foreman, William M. Gibson Jr., a retired state insurance investigator, said the Travis County grand jury waited until Wednesday, the final day of its term, to indict him because it was hoping he would accept jurors' invitation to testify. DeLay said in interviews that the grand jury never asked him to testify.

In a Wednesday night appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, he said Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle never talked to him or asked him to testify. "Never asking me to testify, never doing anything for two years," DeLay said in the interview. "And then, on the last day of his fourth or sixth grand jury, he indicts me. Why? Because his goal was to make me step down as majority leader." On Thursday, DeLay said in another broadcast interview that he was under the impression that he wasn't going to be indicted because he hadn't been called to testify before the grand jury. "I have not testified before the grand jury to present my side of the case, and they indicted me," said DeLay, according to the Associated Press.

Dick DeGuerin, the attorney representing DeLay, said Thursday that DeLay actually was invited to appear before the grand jury, where he would have been under oath. The Houston attorney was not yet on the legal team when DeLay was asked to appear, but he said other attorneys advised him not to testify — a decision DeGuerin supports. DeGuerin said that DeLay may have been referring in the interviews to the fact that the grand jury did not subpoena him to testify. Gibson said there was an open invitation, but the grand jury decided not to force him to appear.

<snip>

SEE MORE IN ARTICLE
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/337610...

[bunny planet]

30. That's too bad. I was looking forward to seeing him frog marched into the

courthouse. He deserves nothing less and it would have been a powerfully symbolic to address his ignominious behavior.

[GOPAgainstGW]

31. Actual Perp Walk Not To Exciting In This Situation. Don't Get to See Much

Re: Enron, both Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's Perp Walks were not much and ego manics like Skilling and DeLay really could care less. Just part of being God for them.

I don't wish to harp on it but, again this DeLay indictment is NOTHING compared to major Enron, Worldcom, Tyco exec indictments.

[bunny planet]

32. Granted. But Delay is a very public face for corruption within this

administration. He is, I believe, the highest ranking Congressional member ever to be indicted. His facade as a 'moral values' Christian servant of the people deserves to be exposed live and in color on the boob tube. Just saying.

[GOPAgainstGW]

33. Concur, I/we Just Disappointed the Charge(s) not Better/Stronger-eom

[GOPAgainstGW]

34. Re: Confused between Grand Jury & Courts

# GOPA Cross Post from another DU thread #

>>>I don't understand the difference between an indictment,
>>>and just charging somebody with a crime. It seems like Delay
>>>now has to appear in court, where he will be technically
>>>charged? Why didn't they just charge him to begin with?

It's How The Legal Process in TX & Many States Work......There is a Grand Jury system to help take the front-end load off the criminal court system. They look at the evidence and determine if a person(s) should be criminally incited by the courts. I, and many people/attorneys, don't like the GJ system, because GJ's can be so manipulated and don't follow formal Court of Law procedures. Also, all they typically hear as to testimony is from the prosecutor.

While I would NEVER defend "Hot Tub" Tom DeLay, but to get the facts on the table, this GJ that indicted DeLay is in Travis County (Austin, Texas) and was 3/4 made up of Democrats. Further, Austin Dems, liberals, and Dem politicians totally hate DeLay for being behind the redistricting of Austin into 3 districts. The local newspaper, Austin American-Statesman, is extremely biased against DeLay, and has been for years - to the point, at times, these lose credibility.

This is all good for us, but DeLay has an excellent Texas attorney. If this goes to trial, DeLay's Attorney, Dick DeGuerin, I'm sure will file for change of venue out of Austin, because DeLay cannot get a fair trial their due to the local press, and the DA's mouth being way too open in public, about this matter the last two years.

Obviously, DeGuerin will try to get a change of venue to Harris County (Houston) to get into DeLay own backyard, and get a more favorable jury pool. Here is a map of DeLay's District. As quoted in the press many times in error, DeLay's District is not Harris County (Houston) but Fort Bend and Galveston County:

Hope this helped.

[YouthInAsia]

36. I had the cops bangin on my door over an unpaid SPEEDING TICKET.