I have neither the expertise in Texas electoral law nor the kind of knowledge that a Grand Jury would have to judge the validity of the indictment of Tom DeLay. It looks to me like a money-laundering scheme of sorts to circumvent Texas electoral laws:
The indictment charges that DeLay entered “into an agreement” with Colyandro and Ellis to circumvent the state’s ban on corporate contributions by arranging for the donations to be sent first to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington, and then back to Republican candidates in Texas named on a written list prepared in Texas.
According to the indictment, DeLay, Colyandro and Ellis conspired to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas Election Code for the benefit of candidates for the Texas House of Representatives. Colyandro formerly directed the Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, known as TRMPAC.
I guess the law is designed to prevent corporate buying of electoral candidates, so you can see why someone like DeLay would want to get around it. Of course, I’m reserving judgment on the ultimate verdict, and DeLay deserves the benefit of being regarded as innocent before being found guilty. But I will say this: there is a clear stench of corruption coming from the Republican power-structure in Washington. It’s been there for a while now. The Abramoff case illustrates it perfectly. With their incoherent big-spending policies already exposing them as conservative frauds, and with each day finding another ethical problem with the GOP leadership, the conditions are ripe for a Democratic come-back in 2006. The only question is whether the Democrats are still too pathetic to take advantage of this.
O’FLANIGAN, TORTURE-ENABLER: Below, you’ll find the role of Timothy E. Flanigan in devising the policies that led to the systematic use of abuse and torture in the U.S. military in Iraq. That alone should bar him from being anywhere near the Justice Department. But he is knee-deep in the Abramoff scandal as well. Surely this is one nomination to which the Senate can calmly say: no.
AVIAN FLU WATCH: National Geographic has now devoted an entire issue to it. Get informed.
The Dish 