by Last Night in Little Rock

Indicted Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX,22) called the prosecutor who obtained his indictment yesterday a "partisan fanatic."

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times today has interesting articles about the "DeLay Effect," my choice of words, not theirs, on the DeLay indictment. DeLay's successor, picked by the Republicans as Majority Whip, is Rep. Roy D. Blunt (R-MO,7).

Blunt is named in a 9/26 posting on the website of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) of the most corrupt members of Congress, and it names Blunt first. What timing.

For those who want to vent against Tom DeLay, here's a chance. Just respect the comment rules applicable for all comments

I just found out that Tom DeLay has got himself the best lawyer in Texas and one of the best trial lawyers in the country - Houston's Dick DeGuerin. The other best one in my opinion is his brother, Mike DeGeurin. (Yes, they spell their last names differently.)

Dick has also been a very good friend of mine for 20 years. You may remember him as David Koresh's lawyer in WACO, or Kay Bailey Hutchinson's lawyer, or the lawyer (along with Chip Lewis) who got Robert Durst acquitted of murder even though he admitted hacking up the body.

That means I'll be reporting the news on the case and analyzing it legally, but I won't be slamming DeLay any more. Sorry, folks, but loyalty is loyalty. Just thought I'd be up front about it.

Of course, TChris and Last Night in Little Rock are welcome to slam DeLay all they want.

CNN keeps running DeLay's diatribe against Ronnie Earle in which DeLay says he's never violated a rule of the House. That's just demonstrably wrong. House rules prevent a member from accepting contributions to their legal defense funds from lobbyists. Public Citizen reported months ago that DeLay's legal defense fund likely violated this rule and only returned the money when the violation was brought to the trustee's attention by Public Citizen.

Much more information is available here and here.

by TChris

According to radio reports and the "Breaking News" banner on cnn.com, Tom DeLay (hold your applause) has been indicted by a Texas grand jury on one count of criminal conspiracy. (Applause is now appropriate.) Updates will be posted as details become available.

The indictment is here (pdf). The charge carries a maximum sentence of two years.

First update: Here's the AP story. Note: several additional updates follow.

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.

DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.