Grand Jury Indicts Tom DeLay for Criminal Conspiracy

... forcing him to step down as Speaker during the investigation.

Created by tseaver. Last modified 2005-09-28 14:10:55.

DeLay was my already-gerrymandered representative for several of the years I lived in Houston. We were able to organize the city precincts effectively against him, winning "landslide" proportions there, but were unable to reach the suburban and rural precincts as effectively.

The Free-Lance Start covers the story noting that:

The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to "knowingly make a political contribution" in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account.

The PAC then wrote a $190,000 check to an arm of the Republican National Committee and provided the committee a document with the names of Texas State House candidates and the amounts they were supposed to received in donations.

The indictment included a copy of the check.

Under the House Republican Caucus rules, almost relaxed for DeLay's benefit last fall, DeLay must step down as Speaker pending the outcome of the indictment, although he retains his seat unless convicted of the felony charge.