Tom DeLay Found Guilty of Money Laundering

As many of you know, Tom DeLay was found guilty of money laundering on Wednesday, November 24.  He will be sentenced to life in prison on December 20.  However, DeLay is appealing this case on lack of evidence and I would have to support him on this.  There was no hard evidence to suggest that he did any money laundering.  According to DeLay’s attorney, DeGuerin, "It was not criminal for there to be a money swap — that is for lawful money, collected from corporations for the national Republican party, and for the Republican Party to send money collected from individuals to the Texas Republican Party. That was not unlawful."  According to Barry Pollack, a Washington-based white-collar criminal defense attorney, "Typically, in money laundering, you can trace the laundered money directly back to the illicit money. Here, you can't.

To me though I believe the main reason Tom DeLay was found guilty is because he is a strong Republican and was tried in a very liberal county, Travis County.  If this case was in a more moderate county I guarantee DeLay would have been found not guilty because of the lack of evidence.  When he takes this case to the appeals court I would be very shocked if they don’t say that he is not guilty because there was no evidence to suggest he was guilty. 

In the end though, even if Tom DeLay is found not guilty by the appeals court he will most likely never be able to run and win again because of this money laundering case. This is a shame because he is a very good and strong Republican.              

Click the titles below for more information about this case:

DeLay's conviction starts lengthy appeals process

Jury finds DeLay guilty of money laundering

Response to Texas & Local Government: Friend or Foe?

Cecilia Hernandez, I think you misunderstood what the article, “The Grey Haired Brigade,” was saying.  It was not saying that younger people are stupid and can not make good decisions about government.  He was saying that the younger generation did not care about government as much as the older generation did, and he is right about that.  Voter turnout is lower for younger people then older people.  Younger people, as he said, care more about their jobs and lifestyle then government.  The reason for this is because the older generation made sure that the country would be in a good state for their children and grandchildren. 

This is one of the first times that the country has been down and the younger generations have had a say in what we should do.  So when think about, the younger generation is new at making decisions with government while the “grey haired brigade” has had experience in government.  We need to be saved by the “Grey Haired Brigade” so that we can see the difference between policy that works and policy that sounds good.  Through out the 2008 election all I heard about was that “Obama is a great speaker unlike Bush and McCain.”  What people should have been focused on was whose policy is going to work better.  Obama’s policy sounded like socialism, while McCain would have worked much better and not increased the national debt by so much.  Also, we would not have this stupid Health Care System.   

That’s what Fred meant in his article and I believe he hit every point very well.  Also, it looks like the Grey Haired Brigade did their job this election.