Ronnie Earle strikes again, gets DeLay indictment

AP:

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.

DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

"I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today," DeLay said.

GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California step into those duties. Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation.

Earle lost credibility when he brought a bogus indictment against Kay Bailey Hutchinson after she upset a Democrat to win her Senate seat. He later had to withdraw the indictment. He has been working on this one a lot longer, but still only wound up with a conspiracy charge which means he had no evidence of DeLay actually doing the underlying crime, so he has indicted him allegeding that he talks to others about doing it. Perhaps he has coerced such testimony from some who he previously indicted for the underlying crime of collecting political contributions.

Update: Powerline has Tom DeLays statement in response to the indictment.

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