DeLay: I was Tried in "Most Liberal County" in U.S.

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said today that he's headed to jail not because he is guilty of any wrongdoing, but because of the politicization of his trial.

"I was tried in the most liberal county in the state of Texas; indeed, in the United States," DeLay said on NBC's "Today" Show. "This is a political campaign."

On Monday, DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison after a jury found him guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges relate to an alleged plot to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.

DeLay's trial was held in Travis County, which includes the state capital of Austin. The county does lean left; in the 2010 elections, nearly 60 percent of the county voted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White, while under 37 percent voted to re-elect incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry (Perry won). More than 63 percent of voters in the county voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential elections.

The former congressman tried to have his trial moved, citing polling figures that showed most residents of the county had a negative opinion of him, but the effort failed.

Also appearing on the "Today" Show, DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin said, "Tom DeLay was prosecuted because he was so successful in bringing about redistricting in Texas."

Prosecutors said the money in question helped the GOP take control of the Texas House and thus enabled the party to implement their redistricting plan that sent more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives.

DeLay said the money was "legally raised funds" from Texas sent to Washington, and that "Washington sent legally raised funds back to Texas."

DeGuerin also claimed that the jury last year was influenced by the surging Tea Party movement.

"We went to trial on the very day people across the country, voters, rebelled against politics," he said.

[hamsterattack]

i have an idea for $arah. why don't you ADMIT that the target list was STUPID and APOLOGIZE.

maybe it will lessen the heat...

i think she'd rather take a bullet...

[hamsterattack]

maybe him as his cellmate can do the horizontal bop every night....

[Overruled1]

Delay has no shame...the CROOK.

[documemts]

Mr. DeLay, a man with no shame.

[Offended_Austinite]

Mr. DeLay's spin does not work. One of the jurors, Katie Stotts, has covered this bogus bias issue already in a post to the Austin American-Statesman. See the following and scroll down:

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/delay-christmas-cards-and-thanksgiving-blessings-1086551.html

See also the speculative math, about the composition of the jury, in the editorial comment by our not-really liberal newspaper, at the link below. I have read elsewhere that 6 of the 12 jurors were Republicans or independents.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/its-the-fair-trial-that-really-grates-on-1076309.html

I seriously doubt Travis County is the most liberal county in the U.S. There are good prospects for that title, I would think, in Vermont, Oregon, California, and Wisconsin, for starters. I will concede that Travis County on average is left of center. That's why the mid-decade redistricting effort supported by Mr. DeLay divided us up by starting at the former Marimont Cafeteria at 38th and Guadalupe and sending one Congressional district north and east to conservative Houston suburbs, another south to conservative San Antonio suburbs, and another on an end run east and then south to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in the hopes that it would prompt a South Texas Hispanic to run and defeat our current Austin Congressman in the Democratic primary. The districts got redrawn somewhat after litigation.

[obboy2037]

You are right as rain.

I guess Tom Delay would like to ignore the fact that San Francisco even exists.

I hope you people in Texas get some more straightforward districts drawn now. It is the only fair thing to do.

[Offended_Austinite]

A few caveats about my preceding post: (1) It was limited to Mr. DeLay's allegation of jury bias. The issue of guilt determination still may depend on a court appeal if there is one. (2) I do not know the primary source of what I read about the six non-Democrat juros. A Houston Chronicle articles says the jury composition, other than the foreperson, was sealed. (3) Ms. Stotts, the foreperson, is characterized by the Houston Chronicle as a Greenpeace activist. If accurate, that gives one the flavor of what is possible in Austin, but even so she would have had to survive voir dire, and jury selection challenges by Mr. DeLay's defense counsel, and would have had to been chosen foreperson by the other jurors who probably were not Greenpeace activists.

[bantamei]

This snake was convicted by a jury of Ameicans, including republicans. His remarks are an insult to the judicial process; but then, he is a republican and the rule of law has never been really that important to the right. And yes, Austin is one of the most liberal cities in the country and, by the way, also has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

[who_are_they_kidding]

The most liberal county in the US is in Texas? hahahahahaha!

[nomossonmyrocks]

I wanted to say that.

[vsjim]

What a punk. First he has a judge that he was personally involved in placing into office in Texas be the judge who threw out most of the charges that could have had him serving many more years. Then he's going to complain that he was tried in the "most liberal county in the state of Texas". If he wants a liberal county try coming to New York City and have our Judges and Grand Jury decide what charges are applicable and our courts listen to his case. He wouldn't see daylight as a free man till he was over a hundred.

Does he mean that a conservative county would hang a black man for littering while they would kiss his feet because he's white for the crimes he committed?

By by Tom - Don't let the jail cell door hit you where the good lord split you?..

[Auntie_May]

The USA is Texas. There is nothing else but Texas, home of the biggest everything in the world, so Austin may well be the most librul county in the USA.

I think its nice that the second largest state in the union has a Victim King to match the Victim Queen up in the largest state, the one up in the opposite corner. She knows all about librul haters and the lamestream media, maybe she can give Tom some tips.

[noloyalisti]

Typical Republican criminal painting himself as the victim. Just like the promoter of the Palin Massacre, Sarah Palin.