This time he is a Democrat:
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who denies partisan motives for his investigation of a political group founded by Republican leader Tom DeLay, was the featured speaker last week at a Democratic fund-raiser where he spoke directly about the congressman.
A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control of the state Legislature from the GOP, organizers said.
Earle, an elected Democrat, helped generate $102,000 for the organization.
In his remarks, Earle likened DeLay to a bully and spoke about political corruption and the investigation involving DeLay, the House majority leader from Sugar Land, according to a transcript supplied by Earle.
“This case is not just about Tom DeLay. If it isn’t this Tom DeLay, it’ll be another one, just like one bully replaces the one before,” Earle said.
“This is a structural problem involving the combination of money and power,” he added. “Money brings power and power corrupts.”
The crowd of 80 to 100 Democratic activists responded by making donations that exceeded the event’s fund-raising goal.
Irony. Dead.
I have no problem with politicians raising money, and, in fact, I hate CFR. The only mandate I would have is make it required that every donation is immediately documented and put on the internet, so everyone can see who is funding what. Get rid of the 527’s, all of it.
And just so we are clear, Earle did nothing illegal or wrong. He should be free to raise as much money as he can for his causes.
But didn’t anyone, not one single person, recognize that the person leading the corruption charges focussing on illegal fund-raising by Tom DeLay probably shouldn’t be the headline speaker at A DEMOCRATIC PARTY FUND-RAISER? Not one person in the decision-making ranks said- “Hey- maybe it would be better to have Al Franken down. Or Ann Richards?”
Not one person thought this might make the DeLay matter look like a politically motivated witch hunt?
Not one person said- “Gee- we might be giving DeLay an excuse to say ‘everybody does it’ if Earle shows up and makes a pitch for big bucks.”
No one?
Sometimes I think that none of them really give a shit what we think, because the prospect of incompents like this running things is really terrifying.
Birkel
Somehow it didn’t keep you from railing against DeLay before an indictment was handed down.
Somehow…
John Cole
I think DeLay is a corrupt bully. That hasn’t changed.
Far North
I don’t know. One thing that I can’t get around when I ponder the whole “Ronnie Earle is a political assassin with his sights on Republicans is that, of the 15 political corruption convictions he’s delivered, 12 were Democrats. That means that 80% of the time, Ronnie Earle has gone after Demorcrats.
I don’t know what all the variables are nor do I know any of the details surrounding Earle’s cases. But, hell, 12 Democrats busted compared to 3 Republicans? Seems to knock a lot of air out of the “Liberal bias” argument.
Bob Munck
So the facts that DeLay’s fundraising and gift-accepting were ILLEGAL and Earle’s were LEGAL (and not even for himself) are inconsequential to you? Is it also ironical that, for example, cops take money (paychecks) from their employers while also arresting thieves who steal money?
No, this isn’t irony.
Jason
Earle definitally didn’t help himself by being a part of this fundraiser. By participating in political activities he gives ammunition to those who are defending DeLay’s bad behavior.
Bob Munck
So the facts that DeLay’s fundraising and gift-accepting were ILLEGAL and Earle’s were LEGAL (and not even for himself) are inconsequential to you? Is it also ironical that, for example, cops take money (paychecks) from their employers while also arresting thieves who steal money?
No, this isn’t irony.
Bob Munck
So the facts that DeLay’s fundraising and gift-accepting were ILLEGAL and Earle’s were LEGAL (and not even for himself) are inconsequential to you? Is it also ironical that, for example, cops take money (paychecks) from their employers while also arresting thieves who steal money?
No, this isn’t irony.
Bob Munck
Sorry for the multiple posts. It told me each time that my post was being rejected because I had done a previous post too recently, and that I should wait a few minutes and try again. So I did.
Stormy70
Ronnie Earl is in Travis County, which is as blue as San Fransico. He brought an indictments against Kay Bailey Hutchinson and it was dismissed later because he failed to present any evidence. . He has always been an activist Democrat. Tom Delay gutted the House Democrats in Texas over redistricting, and the Dems are gunning for him.
texas-justice.com/dalnews/earle961024.htm
Stormy70
Excuse all typo mistakes in the above post, only had one cup of coffee so far.
tom scott
of the 15 political corruption convictions he’s delivered, 12 were Democrats. That means that 80% of the time, Ronnie Earle has gone after Demorcrats. That’s a post hoc argument. It’s possible that he hasn’t gone after democrats but a possiblity exists that when going after corruption that corruption is more prevalent among Texas democrats. There may also be other explanations. One mustn’t assume that he has merely gone after democrats.
Kimmitt
Right, but it’s nearly impossible to conclude, based on those numbers, that he’s only going after Republicans.
At any rate, John’s right; it looks bad and it was very stupid.
Ol Tex
The tin ear in this case seems to belong mostly to the Chronk reporter who extracted a dismissive paragraph about DeLay from Earle’s speech and tried to hang a sensational story from it.
Other papers had more extensive extracts which made it more clear that Earle was there to stump for better ethics in government and told the group that if they wanted to make progress in that area they had to start with examing their own ethics.
More to the point of the speech were these paragraphs:
“Integrity is not the sole possession of either party, but it is symbolic of the great division in our country now. That division is between those who would take more than their share from the rest of us and those who believe we’re all in this together.
“The real division is between these two sets of values. The problem lies in the ethical behavior that is based on those values. The spirit of partisanship is not compatible with ‘we’re all in this together’.”
Earle said he’d be glad to say the same thing to any Republican group that wanted to invite him to speak. If Texas Republicans have a hair on their collective ass, they’ll call him on that instead of doing the self-serving whiney-baby routine they’re in full cry about now. Double-dog dare ’em.