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From the diaries. As I noted a few weeks ago, DeLay escapes indictment, for now, because of jurisdictional issues, but just about his entire Texas circle is now under indictment -- kos)
The illegal corporate cash Tom DeLay used to build new protective political levees for the GOP has led to five more indictments from a Travis County, Texas, grand jury this morning. If only Bush/DeLay would have put a similar effort into real levees to save real lives rather than enhance and protect their own lust for power.
Indicted was Tom DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, for the illegal use of corporate money in its campaign to win a majority in the Texas House of Representatives and pull off an unprecedented mid-decade Congressional redistricting plan. A state group, the Texas Association of Business, was also accused in four indictments.Austin American Statesman has details.
That plan, widely criticized, might now help Republicans avoid voters' wrath for Katrina's devastation, the war in Iraq, and the sacking of the U.S. Treasury by the rich, the trashing of public education and the crisis in public health care.
DeLay was not indicted. But he'd better delay any celebration. DeLay was not exonerated. He's avoiding prosecution (for the moment) only because of a quirky jurisdictional issue. He lives in another county in Texas. If his residence in Austin or D.C., like those indicted, he would be toast.
Make no mistake: the committee DeLay founded and controlled, day by day and minute by minute, has been formally accused of violating the law in service to DeLay's pursuit of power. He is culpable.
If New Orleans levees had been necessary to DeLay's power grab they would have been the strongest in the world. The sad truth is that corruption at the heart of Bush/DeLay Republicans has rendered them incapable of using the power they seek for anything but its own reinforcement.
Another sick consequence of these criminal acts is that despite some of the perps being caught, the crime itself continues to reward. It's like catching a bank robber in the act, but letting him keep the money and requiring the bank to allow the robber to make withdrawals on demand. This is just another way these guys are like the mob. Gangsters' success depends on insider power relations. You can put one in prison for murdering a competitor, but the territory gained by the murder remains with the culprit.
The congressional redistricting plan forced upon the nation (primarily by the DeLay-controlled Texas legislature, control he achieved by giving GOP candidates bags full of illegal money) will now help guard the GOP from deep losses in 2006.
TRMPAC spent $600,000 in illegal corporate money in 2002 to gain a majority of seats in the Texas House for Republicans. The Texas Association of Business spent about $1.7 million in illegal corporate money on the same cause.