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Worse Than a Witch Hunt

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 9/30/2005 12:10:52 PM

In Travis County, Texas, sits a prosecutor named Ronnie Earle.  He is an extreme leftist, and he will stop at nothing whatsoever to destroy the GOP.  On Wednesday, using a secret Grand Jury, he secured an indictment against Tom DeLay, the House Majority leader.  As part of the Republican caucus rules, no person under indicment may serve in a leadership position in the Congress.  So Tom DeLay, one of the architects of the GOP congressional victories, is now on the sidelines.  Mr. Earle has accomplished his main goal.

"Please tell me what things Mr. DeLay supposedly did to constitute the "conspiracy" to violate certain campaign finance laws.  They are not there.  Nothing but a single conclusory sentence mentions Tom DeLay at all.  How does one defend such a thing?"

What about the indictment?  Read it for yourself.  Please tell me what things Mr. DeLay supposedly did to constitute the "conspiracy" to violate certain campaign finance laws.  They are not there.  Nothing but a single conclusory sentence mentions Tom DeLay at all.  How does one defend such a thing?  The law is clear:  If you are accused of a crime, the accusing instrument must specify the who, what, where, when of the crime.  These things are totally absent.  News reports have already noted that attorneys working for Ronnie Earle strongly pressured him not to bring this to a Grand Jury.  Nonetheless, Earle want to the Grand Jury, where the defendant has no say or opportunity to be heard in any way, and got a flimsy indictment.

I just heard a rumor on Rush’s show that Ronnie Earle is having a movie made about his obsessive pursuit of Mr. DeLay.  If I were him I would not sit in my glass house and throw stones.  In 1994, just before she was to take up her Senate seat, Mr. Earle obtained an indictment of Kay Bailey Hutchison.  That was thrown out of court for want of evidence.  Before that, Earle attacked former Texas Attorney general Jim Mattox; that case was destroyed at trial.  Clearly, Ronnie Earle has no compunction about abusing the legal system to try to destroy the GOP.

"Extremist blogs like Daily Kos also note that Earle has indicted more Democrats than Republicans.  So what.  The Democrats were guilty.  The Republicans are innocent.  He apparently only indicts innocent Republicans."

Now the leftist blogs are saying that the Hutchison case was destroyed by GOP "cronies."  Extremist blogs like Daily Kos also note that Earle has indicted more Democrats than Republicans.  So what.  The Democrats were guilty.  The Republicans are innocent.  He apparently only indicts innocent Republicans.  As the Wall Street Journal noted, the indictment in this case accomplishes a punitive purpose:  removing Tom DeLay from leadership in Congress.  I do note, with dripping irony, that the Democratic caucus imposes no such "step down on indictment" rule on their membership.  The GOP’s greater integrity is being used by the Democrats as a weapon against them.

History has shown that Republics fall apart when those in power stop at nothing to try to obtain or keep that power.  Look at the Roman republic.  First with Sulla, then with Caesar, ambitious leftists stopped at nothing to get their way.  Finally, Caesar’s armies marched on an empty Rome, ending the republic and replacing it with tyranny.  I grow increasingly apprehensive of the left.  They have been dismissed by the people; their "buy off the public" plans have, unlike in Caesar’s day, been rejected by the people.  Now we’ve gotten a start on the task of bringing the courts back to Constitutional faithfulness.  As this happens, the left, seeing their ambitions decimated, is now in the business of abusing the law in a desperate attempt to do anything to get power.  Leftists are sporting bumper stickers comparing our President’s administration to Ancient Rome.  Oddly enough, our President is the Republic-loving Cato, and Ronnie Earle is the latest bearer of Caesar’s tyrannical eagle.  We need to pray hard that we do not meet the Catonian fate.

"Ronnie Earle is not a Democratic hack, he is far worse.  He is a willing conspirator against the Constitution of the United States.  He hates the law that he has taken an oath to uphold!"

Ronnie Earle is not a Democratic hack, he is far worse.  He is a willing conspirator against the Constitution of the United States.  He hates the law that he has taken an oath to uphold!  For the third documentable time, he has brought a facially frivolous indictment against a high-profile Republican.  No prosecutor should ever be allowed to hold office where he or she brings a factually baseless criminal case.  Mr. Earle needs to be fired / impeached / recalled, for the good of the law.

As to Tom DeLay, we need to support him.  I personally hope that his lawyers go straight to court with a motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, for failure to state the facts underlying the charge.  Such a motion will cause the judge to challenge Mr. Earle to set forth the facts.  If he has the facts (and he clearly does not, or he would have set them forth in the indictment), he will have to list them.  Ronnie Earle will then see the case dismissed.  Then, I strongly urge Tom DeLay to bring a nice, fat libel and malicious prosecution suit against Ronnie Earle.  Use the law that Mr. Earle hates to teach him that there are consequences for abuse of the law.