House Republicans drew fire from Democrats and the liberal media last month when they changed their rules requiring anyone in a leadership position to step down if indicted.
The Republicans scrapped the 10-year-old rule to show support for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.), three of whose political allies were indicted in September by Democratic Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle for alleged violations of state campaign finance laws.
Although Earle told the Austin American-Statesman that his campaign-finance investigation "isn't about Tom DeLay," his history as a rabidly partisan prosecutor-who once lodged a frivolous indictment against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.)-led House Republicans to preemptively stand up for their leader.
Texas Democrats would love to be rid of DeLay, especially because DeLay inspired Republicans to redraw Texas's 32 U.S. House districts after the party took control of the state legislature in 2002. Under the new districting, Republicans last month gained three new safe districts and picked up another four districts previously held by Democrats.
Earlier this year, Rep. Chris Bell (D.-Tex.), who had been defeated for re-nomination in a Houston-area district, filed a three-count ethics complaint against DeLay. The complaint included years-old allegations and the House Ethics Committee unanimoulsy decided not to pursue its charges. It was filled, said Ethics Chairman Joel Hefley (R.-Colo.), with "unsubstantiated" and "irrelevant allegations."
Texas Republican Representatives John Carter and Henry Bonilla have called on Bell to reimburse the committee for its expenses in the probe.
As for prosecutor Earle's Austin-based offensive, it went through four grand juries in two years before Earle secured an indictment against three political operatives for TRMPAC (Texas Republican Majority Political Action Committee) on charges that corporate money donated to their PAC was used for non-administrative expenses. Tying TRMPAC and the three operatives to DeLay is itself a reach. Although DeLay helped raise money for TRMPAC and served on its advisory board, he did not make decisions on how its funds were allocated or have knowledge of its operations. While all three indicted operatives have helped or worked with DeLay in the past, none is presently in his employ.
Moreover, the allegation that TRMPAC broke the law in its use of corporate money is legally dubious. Section 253.100 of the Texas code states: "A corporation . . . may make one or more political expenditures to finance the establishment or administration of a general-purpose campaign." The Texas Ethics Commission deadlocked on the question of what is and what is not an "administrative" expense and the question has never been decided in court.
Even if the facts of the prosecutor's allegations were to be proved, and his interpretation of the law prevailed, Texas requires a "knowing" violation in these types of cases. All of the PAC officials involved, a spokesman told us, "sought legal advice on how to properly follow the arcane and confusing Texas law."
Given the flimsy nature of these charges and the fact that DeLay himself has so far never been linked to any part of the legal action in Austin, it would seem that the majority leader is out of danger and that Republicans overreacted in changing their rules. But those who have followed Earle's career and remember his remark to the New York Times that "I honestly think the future of democracy is at stake" in the DeLay probe are not so sure.
