Could it be that all of the tactics being pulled by Tom Delay’s defense
attorney are actually to help him get a trial that will lean in his favor.
Listening to Delay talk you wouldn’t think so, but according to a

Washington Post article today he did almost plead guilty to a misdemeanor
charge in order to avoid the felony charges.

Lawyers for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) tried unsuccessfully in late
September to head off felony criminal indictments against the then-majority
leader on charges of violating Texas campaign law by signaling that DeLay
might plead guilty to a misdemeanor, according to four sources familiar with
the events.

The lawyers’ principal aim was to try to preserve DeLay’s leadership
position under House Republican rules that bar lawmakers accused of felonies
from holding such posts. DeLay was forced to step down as leader on Sept. 28
after the first of two grand jury indictments.

The last-minute negotiations between the lawyers and Texas prosecutor
Ronnie Earle were arranged after DeLay made what Earle considered a
seriously damaging admission about his fundraising activities during an Aug.
17 meeting with the prosecutor in Austin.

At that session, DeLay acknowledged that in 2002 he was informed about
and expressed his support for transfers of $190,000 in mostly corporate
funds from his Texas political action committee to an arm of the Republican
National Committee in Washington and then back to Texas, according to the
sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

Those transfers are at the heart of the prosecutor’s investigation of the
alleged use of corporate funds in the 2002 Texas elections, in violation of
state law. In the prosecutor’s view, DeLay’s admission put him in the middle
of a conspiracy not only to violate that law but also to launder money.

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Just from reading that, it appears that his claim Ronnie Earle is motivated
purely by partisanship is wrong. If Delay did admit his knowledge of the
transfer and supported it then Ronnie Earle actually has a pretty solid case.
Looks like the hammer is going to fall hard now.