Saturday, October 4, 2014

Mugged by the Courts


DeLay: ‘Dangerous’ for Left to Use Courts to Destroy Opposition
(Newsmax) – Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says while he is relieved that he was “exonerated” by the Texas high criminal court he is concerned about the left using the legal system to go after its opponents.
“I had a great day yesterday in that the highest criminal court in Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, upheld the ruling of the 3rd Court of Appeals in that they totally exonerated me,” DeLay told J.D. Hayworth on “America’s Forum” on Newsmax TV Thursday.
“They said that I should’ve never been charged in the first place,” he explained. “They said that I shouldn’t have been indicted.” 
“It was a great day,” he added. “Nine years of going through this mess is over.”
The former Texas Congressman was charged in 2005 with money laundering allegations and convicted in 2010 by a Texas jury. In 2013, the 3rd Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, a decision which was upheld Wednesday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
DeLay has said from the beginning that the allegations were politically motivated.
“It took five years for me just to get to trial after being indicted on a law that doesn’t exist in Texas,” he said. “Then, I was convicted by a liberal jury from Travis County, not even my home county in Texas, and sentenced to three years in prison.”
The former House Majority Leader credits his Christian faith for helping him get through it.
The Texas Republican said that it’s a problem that the left uses the court system to attack its opponents.
“Any ethics questions are just a detriment to the reputation of that elected official” who is charged, DeLay explained.
“That’s what the criminalization of politics as a political strategy is all about,” he said.
“The left just wants to get the headlines in the papers and the top story on television that you’re a corrupt individual, and they go to work on it,” he added.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Republican, was indicted in August for abuse of power for allegedly using a funding veto with the intention of forcing a local prosecutor to resign.
DeLay says that Perry “needs to understand this is a political trial that he’s about to go through.”
“Hopefully the judge will throw all this nonsense out, but Rick Perry is going through exactly what I went through with the same people,” he explained.
“This is the criminalization of politics and it’s not just Rick Perry,” the former congressman argues.
“I contend that Gov. Bob McDonnell in Virginia is going through the same thing,” he said. “He may have done some stupid things, but he didn’t do anything that was criminal.”
“Scott Walker is going through it, the governor of Wisconsin,” DeLay explained.
“This is having a huge impact on our politics,” he contends. “It puts the fear of God in elected officials — they don’t want to stand up and fight for what they believe in because they’re scared to death they’ll get their heads knocked off by going to prison and having their families destroyed.”
“This is really, really dangerous what’s going on out there.”
In a separate interview Thursday on “The Steve Malzberg Show,” Delay said conservatives have been targets for unfair prosecution for years.
“It’s just starting to elevate itself to a higher and more visible office … This is a political strategy that the left imposes and when they can’t beat you at the ballot box or beat you on the floor of some legislature or beat you as a governor, this is what they do,” he said.
“I call it criminalization of politics. It’s a political strategy and it’s undermining our system of government, it is deterring people from running for office.
“It’s putting the fear of God in elected officials not to stand on policy for fear of getting their heads knocked off. It’s an abuse of power in our justice system to use the judiciary for political gain. But, it is a political strategy and to be honest with you it’s working.”
Source: http://www.teaparty.org/delay-dangerous-left-use-courts-destroy-opposition-58789/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=delay-dangerous-left-use-courts-destroy-opposition
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/DeLay-liberals-courts/2014/10/02/id/598271/
 

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