[Mb-civic] Retired Judge to Preside in DeLay Case - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Retired Judge to Preside in DeLay Case
Appointee Was Chosen for Apparent Nonpartisan Stance

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; Page A04

The state of Texas finally found a judge yesterday to preside over the 
criminal trial of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), but 
not without a new, last-minute dispute about partisan political 
interference.

Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub, who earlier this week removed a judge 
overseeing the proceedings against DeLay for alleged liberal bias, 
withdrew yesterday from decision making about a replacement judge after 
an official complaint about Schraub's links to Republicans.

Schraub passed the decision to the chief justice of the Texas Supreme 
Court, Wallace B. Jefferson. But within hours, political activists in 
Texas complained that Jefferson has close ties to individuals and 
political contributors at the heart of the allegations against DeLay.

By day's end, Jefferson seemed to settle the matter by appointing a 
retired judge from San Antonio, Pat Priest, whose only recent political 
donations were three checks of $150 each to Democratic candidates for 
the Texas House in 2004, according to the watchdog group Texans for 
Public Justice.

The task of finding a supposedly apolitical arbiter for DeLay's trial 
was complicated by the fact that Texas -- like seven other states -- 
elects its judges in partisan elections. It also allows elected judges 
to make financial contributions to partisan causes, and it even permits 
those with business before the courts to subsidize the judges' political 
campaigns.

DeLay, who says that the criminal charges against him were motivated by 
partisan politics, filed a motion last month seeking the removal of 
District Judge Bob Perkins, an elected Democrat who had contributed 
funds in 2004 to the liberal group MoveOn.Org. Schraub agreed to do so 
Tuesday without giving any reason, and promised to pick a replacement.

But prosecutor Ronnie Earle, who has overseen the DeLay investigation 
and who opposed Perkins's removal, then filed a motion seeking Schraub's 
removal on grounds that he had contributed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 
election campaign.

Perry, a DeLay ally, worked closely with the majority leader in 2002 to 
ensure that Republicans gained control of the Texas House, a key step in 
the DeLay-inspired plan to redraw the Texas congressional map so that 
the state elected more Republicans to Congress.

Schraub's subsequent withdrawal threw the responsibility to Jefferson, 
whom Perry appointed as chief justice in 2004 and who shared a campaign 
treasurer in 2002 with Texans for a Republican Majority, the group 
indicted along with DeLay for allegedly funneling illegal corporate 
contributions into the House elections that year. Jefferson also was 
endorsed by the group, and one of its brochures listed him as a VIP 
guest at one of the group's fundraisers.

Jefferson's letter did not explain the choice of Priest. Jefferson's 
office staff declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the House ethics committee -- which DeLay has asked to 
investigate allegations that he improperly traveled overseas at the 
expense of lobbyists -- announced yesterday that it hired a new chief 
counsel, William V. O'Reilly, a former partner in the Washington office 
of the Jones Day law firm.

The firm's Web site states that O'Reilly previously represented the R.J. 
Reynolds tobacco company in antitrust litigation. R.J. Reynolds is one 
of DeLay's longtime financial supporters -- having given to both his 
election campaigns and his legal defense fund -- and recently flew DeLay 
to Texas on one of its corporate jets for his first court appearance.

Campaign disclosure records state that O'Reilly contributed $1,000 last 
year to Sen. John F. Kerry's Democratic presidential campaign, $250 to 
Wesley K. Clark's Democratic presidential campaign, and $250 to the 
Democratic National Committee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302083.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20051104/771609ac/attachment-0001.htm