Texas is not as timid as the Federal Department of Just Us has become, in terms of Bush II era criminal conduct.The feds did not have the cajones to prosecute Tom DeLay, a.k.a. "The Hammer", however, Texas justice is a little less ... shall we say "formal".
A jury convicted DeLay on a conspiracy theory, and on money laundering, for which the maximum is life in prison.
The toxins of power got to DeLay when he began to go with the corrupting flow, rather than fight to stay old school honest.
An appeal is sure to follow.
I'm sure Delay was happy to "take one for the team" in exchange for all the havoc he was able to wreak over the course of a rather distinguished (for the harm it did to liberal democracy) 22 year career. He has already announced that he will appeal the verdict (no surprise there), and he could get as little as probation.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that the fact that he will no doubt now become the latest poster child for the hard right's continuous assertion of "liberal bias" in the judiciary, and this comes out as an overall win for the GOP. I have no doubt that he's being paid handsomely for his services as well.
All the same, it's good to see that we can still muster the courage to get a conviction of a rascal like this, whether or not it eventually stands or Delay ever does a single day of time. All in all, it's a great day when you can read any news item with the words "Tom Delay" and "convicted felon" in it!