In Texas, The Hammer Runs Into an Anvil
Earle can defy
pigeonholing. Buck Wood, an Austin lawyer and friend of Earle’s, says the prosecutor is “definitely a moderate,” and that he’s
“not involved in the Democratic Party.”
Raised on a cattle ranch in the tiny north Texas town of Birdville, Earle served
briefly in the Texas House before being elected district attorney. A self-described “radical moderate,” he has faced
little serious opposition in his reelection campaigns. This comports with commonly heard descriptions of him — adjectives such as
“maverick,” “idealist” and “crusader.”
Indeed, Earle is a former Eagle Scout more interested in social policy than in collecting
death-penalty convictions. …
“Ronnie has a very deep philosophical belief about good and evil,” Keel said. “He sees
corporate involvement in politics as an evil to be attacked at any costs.” …
Earle says he has no choice. He was hoping
to retire last year, he says, but felt he could not abandon this case.
“The issue that we’re faced with is the role of
large concentrations of money in democracy, whether it’s individuals or corporations,” he said. “The issue is the same.”
Movement of $190,000 at Issue
DeLay Case Could Hinge on Original Source of
Money
By R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post Staff Writer
The head of a Texas political group organized by then-House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay made an urgent request on Sept. 10, 2002, to the group’s accountant: Send a blank check overnight to DeLay’s chief
fundraiser in Washington. The next day, the fundraiser, James W. Ellis, inscribed it to an arm of the Republican National Committee and
wrote in the amount: $190,000.
It was an odd, election-eve donation of funds to Washington by a political group formed to support
Republicans in Texas. But that was not the whole story. On Oct. 4, 2002, the RNC sent the same total amount in seven checks ranging from
$20,000 to $40,000 to candidates for the Texas House.
It is this transaction — the swift and loosely documented transfer of funds
from Texas to Washington and the subsequent transfer of the same amount in multiple checks back to Texas — that lies at the heart of
Wednesday’s indictment of DeLay and two political associates by a Texas prosecutor, Ronnie Earle. …
“I didn’t know they did
this legal activity,” DeLay told CNN, referring to the transfer of $190,000 to the RNC by his alleged co-conspirators, TRMPAC director
John Colyandro and Washington fundraiser James Ellis. DeLay also said he did not know which Texas candidates the two men had “targeted”
for donations from Washington in a note they sent to the RNC along with the check. “I did not know where the money went,” he said.
DeLay Arraignment Is Set for Oct. 21 By Amy Goldstein, Washington Post Staff
Writer
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has been ordered to appear at an arraignment on Oct. 21 in an Austin courtroom, where he plans to
plead not guilty to the charge that he conspired with two associates to funnel corporate donations to Republican candidates for the Texas
legislature.
