A Column, an Editorial, and Letters Expose “Betcha Didn’t Knows” about Delay Indictments

From Wes Pruden, the take-no-prisoners editor of The Washington Times (link may require registration and will move early Tuesday morning), on the Tom Delay indictments:

You can’t find anyone in Austin, the seat of Travis County, who thinks county prosecutor) Ronnie Earle will get a conviction. Few believe that the indictments, such as they are, will even get to trial. That’s not the point of this kind of partisan barn-burning. The indictments themselves get a lot of ink and airtime, and Mr. Earle understands that the public often conflates indictment with conviction, as exacerbated by history. So many officers of the House, beginning with Jim Wright and Dan Rostenkowski and continuing with Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston, have been booted out of office reeking of various body odors that an indictment alone might be enough to destroy the Hammer. It’s a stunning abuse of the law and manipulation of a grand jury, even circa 2005, but it testifies eloquently to the times we live in.

Meanwhile, the ultra-liberal Austin American-Statesman is questioning Earle’s judgment, and not just on the case itself:

Working on its last day, a second grand jury declined to indict DeLay on Friday. Earle’s office said it received new information over the weekend, so it went to yet a third grand jury empaneled on Monday, the last possible day under the statute of limitations. That grand jury returned the new indictments.

Earle’s panicked rush lends credence to those who complain that he is a partisan playing politics with the grand jury, and it gives ammunition to critics who argue that he has been hapless in his three-year probe.

Earle also didn’t help himself by becoming Austin’s newest movie star, allowing a documentary crew to film his pursuit of possible financial wrongdoing by Republican operatives in 2002.

Earle had to know he would be summoning a GOP storm by investigating the party’s powerful lobbying and fund-raising organizations. After all, he’s been there before. Since Earle’s failed prosecution of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 1994, he has been saddled with the “partisan Democrat” label. He must have realized he would face the same wrath if DeLay’s political action committees and the GOP business lobby were indicted.

Yet none of that history caused him to doubt the wisdom of inviting a documentary crew to film his probe of GOP fund-raising. It should have. News of the independent film crew’s two-year-long access to Earle and his inner sanctum did not serve him well.

Earle disagrees, saying that he was just doing his job. Sorry, but his job is to prosecute, not be red meat for filmmakers looking for a big score. By starring in “The Big Buy,” a documentary, Earle gives every appearance of having scripted a vendetta against one of the most powerful Republicans in the country.

It might not have been unethical for the district attorney to give such unprecedented access to a documentary crew, but it wasn’t wise. Earle should have known better than to make himself the focus of attention.

Readers are also weighing in with their not-supportive thoughts at the Statesman’s Letters to the Editor (may require registration):

Reader Greg Solcher–Travis County’s circus

Ronnie Earle, a liberal Democratic district attorney in a liberal Democratic county, completed a three-year investigation by indicting former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay under the wrong statute, presented the case to a second grand jury, failed to get an indictment and then went to yet a third grand jury, which indicted DeLay after hearing one day of evidence. All of this occurred in a week. On top of that, we learned that a documentary about the investigation is being filmed, which will likely run nationwide during the next election cycle.

Reader Geoffrey Puryear–Money Out the Window

How is David Barrett’s investigation of Henry Cisneros (editorially criticized by the Statesman–Ed.) any more wasteful than Ronnie Earle’s politically motivated train wreck?

Faulty indictments aside, the DeLay “investigation” has served as nothing more than a nationally reported publicity campaign for Earle at the expense of Travis County taxpayers. I guess when the target is a Republican, expensive vendettas are more palatable.

Reader R.H. Goodrich–Earle’s Flimsy Case

So Democratic Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s indictment last week of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay had to be done over because it was so flawed and flimsy. Apparently, Earle’s office overlooked the law in its rush to judgment. Isn’t that what DeLay’s attorneys have pointed out from the outset?

And the new indictments took hours to present to the new grand jury, not years like the original indictment. Doesn’t that make Earle’s contention that grand juries indict, not district attorneys, look ridiculous?

The county’s case against DeLay is only a week old, and already it’s falling apart. Earle’s office has been exposed as either patently partisan and vindictive or simply inept and incompetent.

I also understand, but have not been able to confirm, that Mr. Earle is not running for reelection when his term ends. The theory is that this could explain the “Hail Mary” nature of his work on this case to date. But even if it is true that he won’t run again, this Travis County link (warning: PDF) notes that he is not up for reelection until 2008. It seems that three years should allow Earle plenty of time to see his vendetta through to its conclusion, or (as would appear from the above) fall apart.

From here, it seems that Ronnie Earle is making Rathergate fake document source Bill Burkett (requires registration) look sane by comparison.
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UPDATE: (HT Drudge) DeLay lawyers: “D.A. Tried to Coerce Grand Jurors”:

WASHINGTON — A conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay should be thrown out because a Texas district attorney tried to “browbeat and coerce” grand jurors into filing criminal charges, the Republican congressman’s attorneys say.

DeLay’s legal team alleged prosecutorial misconduct in a court filing Friday in Austin, Texas.

DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said prosecutor Ronnie Earle “and his staff engaged in an extraordinarily irregular and desperate attempt to contrive a viable charge and get a substitute indictment of Tom DeLay before the expiration of the statute of limitations.”