Will Indictments Stick?

From today's Washington Post:

One count of the new indictment accuses DeLay of conspiracy to commit money laundering. It says he agreed with one or more associates to launder $190,000 in corporate contributions through an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington, allowing the funds to be passed illegally into the election campaigns of Republican candidates in Texas. Texas law prohibits the use of corporate money in political campaigns.
Link to Washington Post article

Politicians are very good at leveraging relationships. They make deals to benefit those who support them. It is a symbiotic relationship.

Sometimes the shady side of these relationships receive the light of publicity. Even less frequently, the illegitimacy of the actions results in punishment. More often, either the event slips back into the darkness or those with higher relationships step in to find a loop hole to get the guilty party off the hook.

Tom DeLay's indictments, one last week for conspiracy and a second today for money laundering, are the first steps in the process of an attempt to put this unethical individual in jail at best, or out of his position and fined at least.

We will see if his relationship with other Texans with more influence than he will get the dis-honorable Rep Tom DeLay out of this mess.

In his mind, he has done nothing wrong.

DeLay: "This is an abomination of justice."

So, I assume he also did nothing wrong to receive his previous admonishments by a Congressional Ethics Committee.

From CNN:

Nicknamed "The Hammer" during his tenure as GOP whip, DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee three times in 2004 over separate issues.
Link to CNN article

On a side note related to accountability, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) release on Friday, September 30, their findings on an investigation requested by Senators Edward Kennedy and Frank Lautenberg earlier this year.

From Yahoo!News:

The administration of President George W. Bush broke the law as it resorted to illegal "covert propaganda" in trying to sell its key education initiative to the public, US congressional investigators have found.
Link to article

The scope of the corruption in the current administration and its relations are becoming increasingly evident. Will attempts be made to indict and prosecute? And, will they stick?

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