Posted on 10/28/2005 5:57:24 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor has subpoenaed the head of a liberal activist group and records of political contributions from mostly Republican state judges in advance of a hearing Tuesday to decide who should preside over former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's criminal case.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle on Friday subpoenaed Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org, a liberal group that took an active role in the last presidential campaign and generally opposes Republicans and their policies.
DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, requested the removal of state Judge Bob Perkins because the judge has made 34 contributions since 2000 to Democratic and liberal groups, including MoveOn.org, which has waged a campaign against DeLay. Perkins' largest contribution was a $1,000 donation to the Travis County Democratic Party in 2002.
DeLay, a Republican, has been accused of money laundering and conspiracy in a three-year investigation led by Earle, a Democrat. His request to have Perkins removed from his case will be decided by another judge after Tuesday's hearing.
Pariser said he learned from DeLay's case that Perkins was a MoveOn contributor. "We believe this is a diversion that Tom DeLay and his lawyer have cooked up to distract from his serious legal problems and presumably that is what Mr. Earle is interested in showing," Pariser said.
In another court document, Earle argued that DeLay's attorneys had failed to meet legal standards for removing Perkins.
Earle also subpoenaed records from the Texas Ethics Commission of political contributions from 2000 to 2005 by nine judges in Tarrant County, 17 in Dallas County and five in Travis County.
DeLay has requested that his trial be moved out of Austin's Travis County, where Earle is the district attorney and Perkins is the judge. Tarrant and Dallas counties are possible locations should the trial be moved.
Almost all Tarrant and Dallas judges whose records were subpoenaed have made federal political contributions to Republican groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The center does not monitor contributions to state candidates or parties, which is the information Earle seeks.
At least six Tarrant County judges contributed to the Tarrant County Republican Victory Fund, which helps support federal and local GOP activities.
Prosecutors allege Delay and two associates illegally funneled corporate money to Texas legislative campaigns through a Texas political fundraising committee founded by DeLay and through an arm of the Republican National Committee. State law bans spending corporate money for the election or defeat of a candidate.
Also Friday, Joe Turner, attorney for John Colyandro, filed a motion to dismiss conspiracy and money laundering charges against his client. Colyandro was executive director of the Texas committee DeLay founded.
and ALWAYS opposes Republicans and their policies...
You know what happens everytime the dems do this kind of crud .. it ends up being thrown right back in their face. For every Repub they can find, I'll bet Tom's lawyer can find 3-4 dems who were doing the exact same thing.
Remember the trips paid for by lobbyists .. the dems got stung badly on that .. and what happened to that story - it suddenly went away.
Good grief - I'm so sick of these people .. let's just stick a fork in them - THEY'RE DONE!!! Get it over with.
Wouldn't it be ironic of ol' Eli lied his butt off (which I'm sure comes as naturally as breathing to him) and finds himself in the same boat with Scooter?
[MoveOn]".. generally opposes Republicans and their policies."
They're kidding, right? MoveOn is so far left that the Communist Party USA used to have a direct link to MoveOn from their website. Does it get any clearer than that??
###Related Article###
Earle Subpoenas Donation Records on Judges' in 3 Texas Counties & Testimony from MoveOn.org Director. - 2
@@@
Records of Judges Sought in DeLay Indictments
Associated Press Staff - HChron
Oct. 28, 2005, 2:02PM
WASHINGTON A Texas prosecutor is seeking records on political contributions by judges from three counties in advance of a hearing on Rep. Tom DeLay's request that the judge in his case be removed because of his financial support of Democratic and liberal groups.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle issued a subpoena today for records from the Texas Ethics Commission for financial contributions made from 2000 to 2005 by nine judges in Tarrant County, 17 in Dallas County and five in Travis County.
DeLay is planning to appear Tuesday in Austin for the hearing on whether state district Judge Bob Perkins should be removed. DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin requested Perkins' removal because the judge has made 34 contributions to Democratic and liberal groups, including MoveOn.org, which has waged a campaign against DeLay.
Prosecutors allege DeLay and his associates funneled corporate money given to Texans for a Republican Majority, a political committee founded by DeLay, to an arm of the Republican National Committee, which sent it back to seven GOP candidates for the Texas Legislature. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used for the election or defeat of a candidate.
Earle issued subpoenas Wednesday for emails from three indicted associates of DeLay.
~~~
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3423357
Posted for FLA by TAB
###3rd Related Article###
Earle Subpoenas Donation Records on Judges' in 3 Texas Counties & Testimony from MoveOn.org Director. - 3
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Earle Subpoenas Leader of MoveOn.org to Testify
>>MoveOn's chief ordered to testify in a hearing over judge's fitness in DeLay's case<<
By R.G. RATCLIFFE, Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
October 28, 2005 - 6:28 p.m. CDT
AUSTIN - Travis County prosecutors issued a subpoena Friday for the head of a liberal political organization to testify in a hearing next week on whether state District Judge Bob Perkins should be removed from hearing the criminal case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay.
DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin has asked to have Perkins removed because of donations to Democratic organizations, including $200 Perkins gave to MoveOn.org in 2004. Perkins said he made the donation because the group was supporting Democrat John Kerry's bid to unseat Republican President George W. Bush.
DeGuerin said the donation makes it impossible for Perkins to escape the perception of bias because MoveOn.org recently has been using attacks on DeLay, R-Sugar Land, to raise money. Last week, DeGuerin said in court that MoveOn was selling T-shirts with DeLay's mug shot on it. Perkins replied that he was unaware of the T-shirt and had not bought one.
MoveOn later accused DeGuerin of lying because it said the group was producing no such T-shirt. DeGuerin said he was mistaken because the T-shirt was being promoted by a group funded by MoveOn. But the other group canceled the T-shirt sale after seeing DeLay smiling broadly in his mug shot.
The subpoena by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is for Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org. The Democratic organization was founded for the 2004 elections as a means of getting around new federal campaign finance laws that were designed to limit the influence of money on national elections.
DeLay is charged with conspiracy to violate state election laws, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictments allege DeLay and two associates had a scheme to circumvent state laws prohibiting the use of corporate money in campaigns for elective office.
Earle's office also filed a brief Friday claiming DeGuerin had failed to point to any campaign contributions that would show Perkins would be biased against DeLay as his trial judge. The motion also included affidavits from three Travis County lawyers testifying to Perkins' fairness as a judge.
Earle also subpoenaed records from the Texas Ethics Commission for all political donations made by criminal district court judges in Travis, Dallas and Tarrant counties from 2000 to 2005. A check of the records showed most had made donations to their local party offices, but a few had made federal political donations.
Perkins asked for the removal hearing because he said DeGuerin's motion raises questions about whether a judge of one political party can oversee the case of a politician from the opposing party. Texas judges face partisan elections to keep their seats. Retired District Judge C.W. "Bud" Duncan Jr. is scheduled to hear the removal case Tuesday. The Democrat was picked for the case by the regional administrative judge, B.B. Schraub, a Republican.
~~~~~~~
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3424272
Posted for FLA by TAB
I busted a gut on that one...
Generally my arse...LOL...
What a screwed up duplicitous and disingenuous world we live in...
Posted for FLA by TAB
Throw this email received in on this thread - TAB
Full Info here: The DeLay Chronicles - Criminal Indictments & Trial
http://www.freerepublic.com/~flattorney/
10.28 - The hearing in Travis County, Tue-11/1, on the Motion to Recuse Judge Perkins, in which Tom DeLay will be present, will not be televised. - ces
10.28 - Tom DeLay's legal defense fund, monitored by the House ethics committee, next week will report raising $318,000 in July, August and September - its best three-month total, and a hot pace that continued through October, said Brent Perry, Trustee for the legal fund. Perry said members of Congress gave $73,500 to the fund during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. DeLay tapped his legal fund for $260,000 in lawyer fees in the same quarter, Perry said. Between his campaign committee and legal fund, DeLay has spent almost $407,000 on lawyers since January. "Word" is since the initial indictment 9/28, DeLay has experience legal fund donations of close to $500,000. He needs $1.5 million to fight Ronnie Earle. - txa
Where is Joe McCarthy when you really need him?
"MoveOn is so far left that the Communist Party USA used to have a direct link to MoveOn from their website. Does it get any clearer than that??"
They are more than lefties, they are seditionists.
Delay is going to trample this chump into the Texas red dirt until he is nothing but a greasey spot.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPrint.asp?Page=\Commentary\archive\200510\COM20051021d.html
"Perkins explained in court that, as far as he could recall, he had not contributed to MoveOn.org since the 2004 presidential campaign when the group was conducting another of its misguided efforts - helping John Kerry. Well, I'm pretty sure Perkins has a perfectly clear recollection of when he contributed, how much he contributed and for what reasons."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/02/MNGN2F1A7C1.DTL
Perhaps the most famously zealous Ahab in pursuit of DeLay's resignation is David Donnelly, the national campaign director for the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonprofit organization with an adjoining political committee that has devoted its efforts to tracking the House leader. Its heavily trafficked Web log, the "Daily DeLay," compiles negative articles about DeLay's activities. It spent some $200,000 in his district in the 2004 campaign, according to Donnelly, and has circulated an online petition demanding that DeLay quit.
Although the often-attacked Soros has not donated money directly to the Public Campaign Action Fund (his financing went to an affiliated but separate organization, the Public Campaign), other reliably Democratic entities have made such donations, including the MoveOn.org Voter Fund, which gave $150,000 in 2004, according to the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics.
http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=Perkins&txtState=TX&txtZip=78704&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&Order=N
PERKINS, ROBERT
AUSTIN,TX 78704
STATE OF TEXAS/JUDGE
9/11/2004
$200
Moveon.org
http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtes.asp?level=C&cycle=2004
Public Campaign Action Fund
http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail2.asp?cycle=2004&ein=522361568&format=&name=MoveOn%2Eorg&type=c&tname=Campaign+Money+Watch
Contributors
Amount
Date
MoveOn.org
$25,000
11/2/2004
MoveOn.org
$125,000
10/28/2004
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