Convicted Criminal Tom Delay Facing 5 to Life

The Hammer To Visit The Slammer, Delay Convicted

As his last name says Tom delayed justice for years and the appeal process may waste a few more but tonight Tom DeLay is a convicted criminal who has gone from Dancing With The Stars to facing life behind bars.     It took too much time but at last this republican scam artist and low life has met the verdict he deserved.

Five to life behind bars on the money laundering charge and two to 20 years on the conspiracy charge.    Right wing apoligist for the criminal element will be crying the blues as one of their own gets the frog march.       It was reported that Shawn Hannity of Fox Propoganda collapsed and required medical treatment after learning of Delays fate.    (Shawn was diagnosed with a severe case of the vapors.     He breathed into a paper bag for a few moments, recovered and returned to the mike to shill for another right wing republican.)    Shawn shouldn't be so shakey as the Hammer will only do 2 to 5 and a few years on probation.

Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress - was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.

Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts against DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.      He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge.


Prosecutors said DeLay, who once held the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives and whose heavy-handed style earned him the nickname "the Hammer," used his political action committee to illegally channel $190,000 in corporate donations into 2002 Texas legislative races through a money swap.

DeLay and his attorneys maintained the former Houston-area congressman did nothing wrong as no corporate funds went to
Texas candidates and the money swap was legal.


The verdict came after a three-week trial in which prosecutors presented more than 30 witnesses and volumes of e-mails and
other documents. DeLay's attorneys presented five witnesses.


Prosecutors said DeLay conspired with two associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, to use his Texas-based PAC to send
$190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee, or RNC.     The RNC then sent the
same amount to seven Texas House candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can't go directly to political campaigns.


Prosecutors claim the money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House. That enabled the GOP majority to push through a Delay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 - and strengthened DeLay's political power.


DeLay's attorneys argued the money swap resulted in the seven candidates getting donations from individuals, which they could legally use in Texas.


They also said DeLay only lent his name to the PAC and had little involvement in how it was run.    Prosecutors, who presented mostly circumstantial evidence, didn't prove he committed a crime, they said.

DeLay has chosen to have Senior Judge Pat Priest sentence him. He faces five years to life in prison on the money laundering charge and two to 20 years on the conspiracy charge. He also would be eligible for probation.


The 2005 criminal charges in Texas, as well as a separate federal investigation of DeLay's ties to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ended his 22-year political career representing suburban Houston. The Justice Department probe into DeLay's ties to Abramoff ended without any charges filed against DeLay.


Ellis and Colyandro, who face lesser charges, will be tried later.

Except for a 2009 appearance on ABC's hit television show "Dancing With the Stars," DeLay has been out of the spotlight
since resigning from Congress in 2006.     He now runs a consulting firm based in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land.

From our desks here at ACVDN we waive fondly to Tom as he starts this new phase of his life.    A great many of his friends are already serving time and others of his friends are scheduled for trial and will soon join him.     The only unanswered question is why did it take so long for the system to work?