The judge in House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's conspiracy case was  removed by court order because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes. Judge Perkins, to whom the case was assigned, has contributed money to the Kerry presidential campaign and to the rabidly anti-Delay organization moveon.org. Perkins recused himself when he was assigned Ronnie Earle's dodgy case against Kay Bailey Hutchison years ago. This time, apparently, he would not do so, thus requiring today's ruling.

 

Senior Judge Duncan granted the recusal motion. He was elected to state judiciary as a Democrat, and has contributed to both Democrats and Republicans over the years.

 

Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub, will now have to appoint a new judge to preside over DeLay's case.

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/012122.php

One step closer to Hammer Time '08

One step closer to Hammer Time '08 

Don't get too excited. When he's convicted this just removes 1 of his appeal options.

The good citizens of Sugarland will make certain that DeLay isn't going to jail.

:headshake

:headshake

 

Kap, Rex has Bea Arthur and I have Tommy "The Hammer" DeLay. I need a GOP hero, and a great Texan like DeLay fits the bill perfectly.

 

I am also beginning to take a liking to Frist

Kap, Rex has Bea Arthur and I have Tommy "The Hammer" DeLay. I need a GOP hero, and a great Texan like DeLay fits the bill perfectly. 

 

I am also beginning to take a liking to Frist 

 

 

 

 

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Dem Prosecutor

 

Now this is just funny...Ronnie Earle is using the exact same arguments Delay used to argue that the new judge is unqualified. (Reg. Required).

 

In an unprecedented move, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion Thursday asking a Republican presiding judge to remove himself from the decision about who will be the trial judge in the conspiracy case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

 

Earle, a Democrat, argued that Judge B.B. Schraub, the presiding judge for the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, should step aside for the same reasons that state District Judge Bob Perkins, a Democrat, was removed from hearing DeLay's case: Both had given political donations.

 

In the retaliatory motion, Earle wrote that he was using the same rationale that DeLay's lawyers used to get Perkins removed from the case. He said Schraub of Seguin, like Perkins of Austin, is a fair and impartial judge with a "sterling reputation" of honesty and integrity.

 

But Earle wrote that's "unfortunately no longer the standard in our state for the judiciary." He argued that Schraub could be personally biased for DeLay and against Earle....

 

According to Earle's motion, Schraub has given $5,600 — roughly the same amount as Perkins — to Republican candidates, including President Bush, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Gov. Rick Perry, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth and state Rep. Ed Kuempel.

 

Earle wrote that the $1,500 to Perry was particularly troubling because Perry was a central player in DeLay's successful attempt in 2003 to have Texas congressional districts drawn to his liking. As governor, Perry called the special legislative sessions where the districts were redrawn to shift the balance of power in the congressional delegation from Democrats to Republicans.

 

The prosecutor also noted that Perry appointed Schraub as presiding judge and Schraub is up for re-appointment in January.

 

Earle suggested four options for breaking the partisan logjam over naming a judge to hear the DeLay case.

 

He asked Schraub to assign the case to another Travis County district judge; appoint a Travis County presiding judge to assign the case in the normal court rotation; to step aside voluntarily; or ask the governor to appoint the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to hear Earle's motion to force Schraub to be removed.

How original.

More bad news for Delay...The Jack Abramoff (btw, isnt' that the worst sounding name you've ever heard?) case is also getting closer and closer to the hammer...now emails are surfacing which implicate his staff in that mess.

More bad news for Delay...The Jack Abramoff (btw, isnt' that the worst sounding name you've ever heard?) case is also getting closer and closer to the hammer...now emails are surfacing which implicate his staff in that mess.

The problem I have with that stuff is it is so easily fabricated.

And Earle has already won.

 

Two days after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay won a fight to get a new judge in his case, prosecutors on Thursday succeeded in ousting the Republican jurist responsible for selecting the new judge.

 

Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub recused himself after District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion asking for his removal from the case.

 

Schraub said he will ask the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court name a judge to preside over DeLay's conspiracy and money laundering trial.

But notice how he recused himself without having to be forced into it.

But notice how he recused himself without having to be forced into it.

Is that all that surprising? The removal of the first judge set the precedent that the 2nd guy felt he had to follow.

If it were a Dem, they'd say they weren't biased. This guy wanted someone independant (the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court) to just assign it and be done with it.

If it were a Dem, they'd say they weren't biased.  This guy wanted someone independant (the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court) to just assign it and be done with it.

 

You probably knew but the dem who in this case fought and eventually lost to stay on as judge had once recused himself before for bias.

A Democrat Judge Again?

 

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson late Thursday afternoon named a senior Democratic judge from San Antonio to hear the conspiracy case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, despite concerns that Jefferson had too many ties to DeLay's political committee to be impartial.

http://statesman.printthis.clickability.co...l&partnerID=522

more at link

 

 

Fox News Pays For DeLay Air Time

Rep. Tom DeLay filed a report with the Clerk of the House of Representatives indicating he received free travel valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for "officially connected travel" on October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. Rep. DeLay appeared on Fox News Sunday on October 2, 2005, the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005.

http://politicalmoneyline.com/