THE NOOSE TIGHTENS AROUND THE HAMMER'S NECK

"The Hammer" is not a name his Democratic opponents and detractors have Tom DeLay. It was bestowed on the most blatantly and egregiously corrupt Speaker of the House by his allies and admirers. And he wears the moniker proudly-- and literally. DeLay has been the ruthless and authoritarian leader of the Republican congressional caucus, one who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. Unlike the aloof, detached, pseudo-aristocratic Bush, always trying to project a veneer, no matter how frayed, of fairness and decency, DeLay is an out-and-out no-holds-barred thug, a veritable mafia don in charge of the House of Representatives! He gets away with it because he has been like a vacuum cleaner sucking up tens of millions of campaign "contributions" (and protection money). Those who go along, get a taste. Those who won't... well, we've all read about what happens to Republicans who cross The Hammer. Unfortunately for DeLay, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is not a Republican. He's a fair-minded prosecutor who has a long record of going after corrupt politicians regardless of political party. (In fact, despite DeLay's baseless assertions that Earle is on a partisan witch-hunt against him because he's a Republican, even the briefest examination of Earle's record as a prosecutor-- something the mass media seems either incapable or uninterested in-- shows he has gone after more Democrats than Republicans!)

In any case, unless you get all your news from the corporate mass media, you are probably already aware that various DeLay cronies and capos in his criminal gang have been indicted. One of his biggest "fund-raisers," lobbyist Jack Abramoff has already been arrested and dragged off to jail for a plethora of criminal activities. And last week the Travis County grand jury indicted Texans for a Republican Majority, a front organization started and run by DeLay, along with the Texas Association of Business, a GOP-connected bribe funneling machine, in connection with 2002 campaign contributions. There were 5 felony indictments were handed down Sept. 8. "All five of these indictments involve the misuse of corporate money to influence Texas elections in 2002," District Attorney Ronnie Earle said. The indictments clearly show that the 2 shady organizations conspired to get around the law in order to pour massive amounts of corporate wealth into GOP campaign coffers.
A money-laundering operation that would make any Colombian drug cartel look mickey-mouse, sent large illegal contributions to at least 21 Texas House candidates allowing Republicans gain a majority in the chamber in the 2002 election, the first time since Reconstruction, and in time for a dubious redistricting of the state's congressional districts in order to insure a GOP majority in the U.S. House (and DeLay's role as Majority Leader).

Texas House Speaker, the sleazy far right extremist, Tom Craddick, has been subpoenaed in the investigation and questioned about acting as middleman in delivering the $100,000 check from a nursing home owners group to Texans for Republican Majority. Craddick has not been charged yet. A year ago a grand jury had indicted three officials with Texans for a Republican Majority: John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis and Warren Robold of Washington, D.C., each charged with an assortment of counts for money laundering and unlawful acceptance of corporate political contributions. All are awaiting trial. And then this week, the investigation moved even closer to the former bug-extreminator-turned-GOP-leader. Two of his closest associates, Ellis (who headed Americans for a Republican Majority for DeLay) and Colyandro (the former executive director of the same outfit), were indicted on additional felony counts of criminal conspiracy to violate Texas election laws. Colyandro who is already facing 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contributions, now must contend with these new money laundering charges stemming from $190,000 in corporate funds that were sent to the Republican National Party, which then spent the same amount on seven candidates for the Texas Legislature. (Coincidence? The grand jury didn't think so.) Money laundering is a first-degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years in prison, even for Republicans.

When Earle announced the indictments Thursday he was a little vague on whether he was investigating DeLay, suggesting that one reason the majority leader hadn't been charged had to do with jurisdictional issues. Charges involving state campaign laws can be filed only in a person's home county. Media Matters has closely monitored news coverage of all the DeLay-related ethics allegations and report that much of the corporate media has uncritically repeated DeLay's insistence that the charges against him are a conspiracy by Democrats, George Soros, and the "liberal media," and can always be counted on to parrot baseless charges by DeLay and his defenders that Earle is engaged in a partisan witch hunt. On April 12 former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich (who knows quite a lot about ethics violations) bluntly dismissed DeLay's transparent attempts to blame Democrats for his ethics problems. Gingrich said that "DeLay's problem isn't with the Democrats. DeLay's problem is with the country," adding that the Texas Republican needs to "get everything out in the open" and that the burden "is on him to prove [his case]." Good luck finding that interview in the corporate media!