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November 01, 2005
DeLay/DeGeurin 1 - Earle 0
Today's news footage once again showed all smiles from Sugar Land Congressman and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, as he entered and left an Austin courtroom hand in hand with his wife. While he was the picture of relaxed contentment at his October 20th booking (looks like he's had some work done!), we suspect the smiles were more genuine today.
Visiting Judge "Bud" Duncan of Bell County ruled today that Judge Bob Perkins, who had been slated to hear Travis County DA Ronnie Earle's case against DeLay, must be removed since he's contributed to Democrats in the past. Now begins the task of finding an "impartial" judge to hear DeLay's case. Good luck. Remember that Texas judges are chosen in partisan elections, meaning they regularly give and receive political contributions -- on both sides of the aisle.
Next of course, DeGuerin will push to have the case moved out of that "liberal hotbed", Travis County, to a more hospitable locale for the ultra-Republican DeLay.
The initial doings in the case don't suggest Mr. Earle has much on the Congressman -- we'll see. Frankly, Earle's reputation can't take another Kay Bailey Hutchison fiasco. He's at the end of his career, and will be remembered for this case, for better or worse. He just can't afford to have this one fizzle or blow up on him.
So we aren't holding our breath that Ronnie Earle will send Tom DeLay to jail -- hell, his case may not even go to trial. We're ready to be surprised.
The investigation to watch, however is in Washington, where the Justice Department continues looking into very serious allegations against Mr. DeLay, and where two of his associates, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, face serious legal jeopardy. Watch for one of those two to sing. Not to mention the House Ethics Committee will take up allegations against Brother Tom as well.
So while, Mr. DeLay may or may not escape serious legal liability in either Austin or Washington, it seems highly unlikely he can quickly resolve all these thorny matters. And that means he's in very serious political trouble, if nothing else. Every day that passes with someone else occupying the Majority Leader's office makes his return to power more difficult.
After all, his loss is someone else's gain, right? Washington is littered with corpses of those who's misfortune spawned another's success. So, Round 1 to Tom and his legal team. But this is a 20-round fight folks.
Posted by houtopia at November 1, 2005 10:48 PM