Decision ‘08

Ronnie Earle: Hardly A Disinterested Figure

When I say Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle (under whose guidance a grand jury has just indicted Tom DeLay) is partisan, besides the many, many speeches he gives at Democratic fundraisers (he is, after all, an elected Democratic official), I’m mainly thinking of the almost universally derided prosecution of then-State Treasurer, now Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, for alleged use of state telephones for political purposes. Earle’s case was so sloppy and transparently partisan that he declined to move forward with it after a judge threw out some documentary ‘evidence’:

There have been some notable missteps, though, the biggest in 1994 when he went after GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for allegedly misusing state telephones for political business. At a pretrial hearing, the judge questioned the admissibility of the prosecution’s evidence and Earle declined to present a case. That led to Senator Hutchison’s acquittal, and many saw the DA as an amateur.

The above excerpt, it should be noted, is from a largely positive assessment of Earle from the Christian Science Monitor.

For more on Earle, both pro and con, for the reason that Earle has prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans, and for more on Media Matter’s defense of him, see our good friend the MinuteMan…

5 Responses to “Ronnie Earle: Hardly A Disinterested Figure”

1 mark, the lesser Says:
September 28th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
This ‘opportunity’ from Ronnie could not have come at a better time.

DeLay, personality aside(although 90% of his personality is needed for the majority leader spot) was the glue behind all the pork agreements. If a deal was made, he was the broker, the unwritten record, and the arbiter. No pork could be cut, as it was all promised.

Now the guy who was overseeing the pork(as was his job) is out of his post at the time the conservatives are grumbling about losing our fiscally conservative way.

The logjam over pork will be disappearring soon, thanks, ironically because of a die hard dem.

Then there is the matter of this indictment. DeLay needs to go guns a blazing after Earle. Request that Earle recuse himself-based upon his lifetime record, and very recent staements that suggest bias. If as Earl ’states’ this is a simple case, someone else should prosecute it. It will force the media to examine Earle, especially if it is a filed brief, and has a great chance of being granted.

It isn’t passing the sniff test, as I have yet to hear even a dem pundit state that he is guilty or even will be found guilty. I strongly suspect that this is going to follow the Bill Burkett forged memo story. The case, like the memo was initally shocking, but upon further review were found to be bogus. I have never seen Ronnie Earle on TV, but I have a feelign we’ll see a lot more of him. He’ll have to make a case why he didn’t prosecute a dem in similar circumstances. Given time and examination, these similar cases will be found. The timeline will be a little longer than CBS, but it took time for people to fnd out who Burkett and Mapes were.

Given the hx of Earle with Hutchison, I think we will be seeing a lot more of her as well. DeLay has already been scrutinized to infinity, and now it will be Earles turn. Much like the Wellstone memorial and the CBS fraud, the dems don’t eally havr a history of orchestating events without it blowing up in their faces.

DeLay will be reelected in his district, by a larger margin than his previous ’squeaker’. The majority spot? He will politely refuse, but take up Ways and Means chair, as a payoff.
2 The Politburo Diktat Says:
September 28th, 2005 at 11:26 pm
Ronnie Earle Fact Check

Ronnie Earle, the Travis County DA who indicted TomDeLay, is now in the spotlight himself.
Unsurprisingly … (well, none of the clains that follow are surprising) Tom DeLay calls him “an unabashed partisan zealot engaging in personal …
3 Inside Larry's head Says:
September 29th, 2005 at 10:43 am
Over in Raging Rino Land

We came up with the idea of a “watering hole” something where we would try to focus the POWER OF OUR BLOGGING on a single topic.
4 mark, the lesser Says:
September 30th, 2005 at 10:15 am
http://buzz.nationalreview.com/078017.asp

Told you.
5 Mark Says:
September 30th, 2005 at 11:09 am
No, no, no…first you say “I hate to say I told you so”, and THEN you say I told you…come on, now!…