Paul Burka is still an idiot

A while back, I wrote a post about how stupid Paul Burka is for thinking Rick Perry was a good leader during the special session. He ended up doing a bit of a retraction the next month because of blogger pressure (at least we're good for something).

This month, he asks if Tom DeLay really deserves to go down for an "ethical gotcha" law.

The link is good until 11 thanks to QR, so I'll be quick. He's still an idiot, but he does a good job of covering his bases when he asks the questions.

But this still leaves unanswered the essential question of what DeLay did wrong—if anything. Colyandro and Ellis were directly involved in the transaction. If DeLay was, neither indictment indicates how.

The indictment doesn't have to say that. That's what the trial is for. Burka's right that it is not entirely clear what evidence Earle has to prove DeLay's hand in the scheme, but then the next graf is all about how Earle doesn't really have to prove that DeLay was "directly involved" because of the conspiracy charge.

It's fairly obvious that something illegal happened, corporate money was laundered through RNC funds to be used to fuel Texas campaigns. What role DeLay played in this is a mystery, but it's not hard to believe he was hands-on involved. Just one year later, he was scurrying through the halls of the Texas Capitol with different versions of redrawn districts for a mid-decade redistricting scheme. That makes it harder to swallow the notion he was completely unaware of how the money was being funneled through the PAC he set up.

To answer Burka's main question, I don't think money laundering or the conspiracy to launder money are "gotcha" ethics laws. They're serious felonies. And if DeLay committed them, I think there is a duty to prosecute him. I may be naive in believing people who broke the law should be tried for it.

Lest we forget, Al Capone was tried for income tax evasion, not murder or bootlegging or organized crime. The Klan members who killed three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss. in 1964 were tried for violation of civil rights in federal court (until Edgar Ray Killeen was found guilty of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the murders). You prosecute lawbreakers any way you can. That's not gotcha, that's justice.

Perhaps I'm being too tough on Paul, but then again he could just be an idiot.

Comments

[damn yankee]

He is....

[bingsy]

The Austin Chronicle features a Halloween mask every year usually with the mug of whatever person was most evil. A few years ago it was Tom Delay as "Leatherface". The mask was shaped like Texas with lines drawn every which way - according to how he was carving up the Texas voting districts. I actually hung onto it up until last summer, when I was moving and decided that it took up too much space. I'm totally lamenting that now. The Tom Delay Leatherface mask would make a great gift for just about anyone.

No comment on Paul Burka. I let my subscription lapse out of frustration with the editors and others, but some of the writers are truly excellent. It's one magazine that leaves me torn.