A Political Witch Hunt? Nah.

Tom Delay has been indicted by a Travis County Grand jury at long last; the crack in this insolent punk's armor is beginning to split wide open. You can get away with a lot when you are an unscrupulous politician who will stoop to any low to advance his party's cause, but you can't get away with an abuse of power in Travis County due to that little ole prosecutor named Ronnie Earle.

Now Delay's people are crying political witch hunt. Kevin Madden, DeLay's spokesman, dismissed the charge as politically motivated. "This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat," Madden said, citing prosecutor Earle, a Democrat. Madden later added: "They could not get Tom DeLay at the polls. They could not get Mr. DeLay on the House floor. Now they're trying to get him into the courtroom. This is not going to detract from the Republican agenda." Not so fast Kevin.

Ronnie Earle is an equal opportunity prosecutor. He's prosecuted 11 Democrats and 4 Republicans during his 27 years in office. Among these was Democrat Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox. Democrats, for their part, are still upset over his prosecution in 1985. While pushing a state lawsuit against Mobil Oil Co., the Democratic AG argued with Mobil's lawyers, which led to his indictment. He was acquitted and years later, Jim Marston, a civil lawyer in Austin and friend of Mr. Mattox, asked Earle why he went ahead with the questionable case. "I said, 'Ronnie, how can it be an abuse of power to threaten a lawyer? We threaten each other all the time.' He told me that elected officials are held to a higher standard. They are supposed to be [above suspicion]...". Earle himself perhaps put the matter best: "This is not about Democrats and Republicans. It is about cops and robbers. This is an investigation of a crime."

Tom Delay has hardly been above suspicion and the whole Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority mess surely smells criminal. Texas District Judge Joseph Hart ruled on May 28, 2005, that the treasurer of Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), organized by DeLay, violated the state's election law by failing to report $684,507 in contributions from corporations and other donors in 2002. The decision upholds a complaint by Democrats about the way DeLay and his advisers financed a 2002 political victory in Texas which allowed DeLay's allies in the state Legislature to redraw congressional districts and elect four additional Republicans to the U.S. House in 2004. Violating state election law would be a crime. Criminal conspiracy is truly a crime that's punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. Ouch! No wonder Delay's spokesman is crying.

Delay consorts with some rather slimy folks, such as Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe. The airfare for a London and Scotland trip taken by Delay in 2000 was charged to an American Express card issued to Abramoff. House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting travel and related expenses from registered lobbyists. This is just one of a host if smelly affairs Delay has been involved in.

Watch him squirm folks, watch him squirm.