------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
$9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/jyXolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
32 Felony Indictments Returned in DeLay Case
By Jay Root and John Moritz
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau
Tuesday 21 September 2004
AUSTIN - A Travis County grand jury returned
32 indictments in the 2002 Republican
fund-raising investigation Tuesday, alleging
felony election code violations against a top
aide to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,
R-Sugar Land, the head of a political group DeLay
founded and eight corporations that provided
money for their activities.
Among the companies indicted on grounds that
corporate money was illegally funneled into the
2002 legislative elections were Sears and
Roebuck, Westar Energy Inc., Cracker Barrel Old
Country Store and Bacardi USA.
Three people were indicted: John Colyandro,
former executive director of Texans for a
Republican Majority, a group DeLay founded;
Warren RoBold, a DeLay fund-raiser; and Jim
Ellis, a top DeLay political aide.
An attorney for DeLay, Steve Brittain, said
the congressman was cooperating fully with the
investigation spearheaded by Travis County
District Attorney Ronnie Earle. But Brittain
raised questions about the timing of the
indictments, issued just a few weeks before the
2004 elections. "All of these people felt very
comfortable that they were not violating the law,
that they were following the rules as they
understood them," Brittain said. "On behalf of
Congressman DeLay, we agree, we don't believe
that anyone intentionally violated the law."
Earle, a Democrat, said the indictments stem
from a 22-month investigation his office made
into Republican fund raising on behalf of Texas
House candidates during the 2002 election cycle.
He said the investigation will continue after the
present grand jury's term expires on Sept. 30.
"Texas law makes it a felony to both give and
receive political contributions from corporations
and labor unions," Earle said during an afternoon
news conference. "In the fall of 2002, after the
Texas Association of Business boasted that it had
engaged in the wholesale flaunting of that law,
this office began its investigation."
It was not immediately clear whether Earle
intends to seek additional indictments, but he
did say that more work remains to be done.
Republicans have suggested that Earle's
investigation was politically motivated, and at
one point GOP Gov. Rick Perry suggested that the
district attorney was on a "witch hunt."
But speaking with reporters before the
indictments were unveiled, Perry said that he,
like most Texans, supports "the grand jury
system."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092204V.shtml
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/E-MAIL_TRIVIA/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
