independentsforkerry.org

The Hammer To Visit The Slammer, Delay Convicted

As his last name says Tom delayed justice for years and the appeal process may waste a few more but tonight Tom DeLay is a convicted criminal who has gone from Dancing With The Stars to facing life behind bars.     It took too much time but at last this republican scam artist and low life has met the verdict he deserved.

Five to life behind bars on the money laundering charge and two to 20 years on the conspiracy charge.    Right wing apoligist for the criminal element will be crying the blues as one of their own gets the frog march.       It was reported that Shawn Hannity of Fox Propoganda collapsed and required medical treatment after learning of Delays fate.    (Shawn was diagnosed with a severe case of the vapors.     He breathed into a paper bag for a few moments, recovered and returned to the mike to shill for another right wing republican.)    Shawn shouldn’t be so shakey as the Hammer will only do 2 to 5 and a few years on probation.

Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress – was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.

Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts against DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.      He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge.


Prosecutors said DeLay, who once held the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives and whose heavy-handed style earned him the nickname “the Hammer,” used his political action committee to illegally channel 0,000 in corporate donations into 2002 Texas legislative races through a money swap.

DeLay and his attorneys maintained the former Houston-area congressman did nothing wrong as no corporate funds went to
Texas candidates and the money swap was legal.


The verdict came after a three-week trial in which prosecutors presented more than 30 witnesses and volumes of e-mails and
other documents. DeLay’s attorneys presented five witnesses.


Prosecutors said DeLay conspired with two associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, to use his Texas-based PAC to send
0,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee, or RNC.     The RNC then sent the
same amount to seven Texas House candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can’t go directly to political campaigns.


Prosecutors claim the money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House. That enabled the GOP majority to push through a Delay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 – and strengthened DeLay’s political power.


DeLay’s attorneys argued the money swap resulted in the seven candidates getting donations from individuals, which they could legally use in Texas.


They also said DeLay only lent his name to the PAC and had little involvement in how it was run.    Prosecutors, who presented mostly circumstantial evidence, didn’t prove he committed a crime, they said.

DeLay has chosen to have Senior Judge Pat Priest sentence him. He faces five years to life in prison on the money laundering charge and two to 20 years on the conspiracy charge. He also would be eligible for probation.


The 2005 criminal charges in Texas, as well as a separate federal investigation of DeLay’s ties to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ended his 22-year political career representing suburban Houston. The Justice Department probe into DeLay’s ties to Abramoff ended without any charges filed against DeLay.


Ellis and Colyandro, who face lesser charges, will be tried later.

Except for a 2009 appearance on ABC’s hit television show “Dancing With the Stars,” DeLay has been out of the spotlight
since resigning from Congress in 2006.     He now runs a consulting firm based in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land.

From our desks here at ACVDN we waive fondly to Tom as he starts this new phase of his life.    A great many of his friends are already serving time and others of his friends are scheduled for trial and will soon join him.     The only unanswered question is why did it take so long for the system to work?

Amherst County Virginia Democratic News

From the Dallas Morning News
by Ed Housewright:

July 31, 2010 – Patricia Crigger, the incoming Collin County district clerk, and five other office supervisors have been indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity.

The indictments stem from a Texas Rangers investigation that alleges Crigger and the others pressured district clerk employees to work on Crigger’s spring campaign.

Crigger received about 54 percent of the April 13 Republican primary runoff election vote, defeating law office manager Alma Hays.

She faces no Democratic opposition on the November 2, 2010 election ballot and is therefore due to take office Jan. 1, replacing longtime District Clerk Hannah Kunkle, who is retiring.

The general election is Nov. 2. The deadline to remove a candidate’s name is Aug. 20, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office.

If Crigger withdraws her name before then, the local Republican Party executive committee can name a replacement to be on the ballot, said Ann McGeehan, elections director for the secretary of state.

The Democratic Party of Collin County Executive Committee also would be allowed to place a name on the ballot, even though the party had no candidate in the primary.

Anyone can file as a write-in candidate through Aug. 24, McGeehan said.

If Crigger doesn’t withdraw her name by Aug. 20, she will stay on the ballot. She would win the election if she receives the most votes.

If she is still under indictment, has not been convicted and decides not to take office Jan. 1, the county’s state district judges would name her replacement, McGeehan said. The replacement would serve until the November 2012 general election and could seek election for the remaining two years of the term.

A candidate becomes ineligible to serve upon final conviction, McGeehan said. So if Crigger were convicted but appealed her case, she could take office while the appeal is resolved.

The Collin County Commissioners Court sets the budget for the district clerk and other elected officials. But commissioners can’t fire an elected official or any of his or her staff.

County Judge Keith Self, who heads Commissioners Court, declined to comment on the indictments.

“Because it’s a legal issue, I need to be very careful to make no comment,” Self said.

Crigger and the other supervisors could not be reached for comment.

“It’s really sad it’s come to this,” said Fred Moses, chairman of the county Republican Party. “She’s worked hard for the party.”

A judge issued arrest warrants on Friday and set a ,000 personal recognizance bond for each. All six defendants appeared voluntarily at the Collin County Jail about 12:30 p.m. to be processed, said sheriff’s spokesman John Norton. They left about an hour later, he said.

Under state law, a person can hold office while under indictment but can be removed if convicted.

Engaging in organized criminal activity is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up to a ,000 fine.

The one-page indictments were returned Thursday against Crigger, Sherry Bell, Rebecca Littrell, Amy Mathis, Lorrie Robertson and Marcia Simpson.

The identical indictments say the women tampered with government records and committed theft by falsifying time and attendance records to show employees were working when they were not.

“This is a dark day for Collin County and its taxpayers,” Hays said in a statement Friday. “I hope the legal process reveals the truth and that the integrity of the district clerk’s office is restored. I am proud to say that I ran an honest campaign and that I had nothing to do with this investigation.”

The six women indicted are among nine supervisors in the district clerk’s office, which has 63 employees.

A search warrant affidavit from the Texas Rangers investigation says district clerk employees were asked to assist Crigger’s campaign in “various ways, such as walking neighborhoods and holding campaign signs at polling places.”

They were rewarded with paid time off, the document says.

It mentions five unnamed district clerk employees who talked with the Rangers during their investigation.

Armed with a search warrant, authorities seized computer hard drives, memory cards, Crigger campaign literature, calendars and other items on June 3.

At the time, Kunkle released a written statement on behalf of her and her office, which is responsible for keeping state district court records. She criticized the execution of the search warrant.

“If they would have come to me directly, I would have turned over anything they wanted and would not have had to close down the district clerk’s office, disrupt county business and cause inconvenience to the employees and citizens of Collin County,” the statement read.

Kunkle couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Moses said he hadn’t talked to Crigger since she was indicted. “We want to let the legal system take its course,” he said.

Moses said he would talk to state Republican Party officials and the Texas secretary of state’s office to determine how to pick Crigger’s replacement if she doesn’t take office.

“We need to see what our options are,” Moses said. “We want to do what’s in the best interests of the party.”

Six supervisors in the Collin County district clerk’s office each face two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity in identical indictments handed down Thursday.

Indicted: Patricia Crigger, Sherry Bell, Rebecca Littrell, Amy Mathis, Lorrie Robertson and Marcia Simpson

Count 1: Tampering with a governmental record by making false entries in time and attendance records

Count 2: Theft by obtaining money between ,500 and ,000 from Collin County by falsifying time and attendance records

Punishment if convicted: Two to 20 years in prison and up to a ,000 fine

Democratic Blog of Collin County – News