Travis DA defends inquiry:Denies GOP assertion funding probe partisan

March 13, 2004, 12:20AM

Travis DA defends inquiry
Denies GOP assertion funding probe partisan
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle on Friday denied accusations that he is running a partisan investigation into possible illegal campaign spending by two Republican organizations.

"This investigation is not about Democrats and Republicans. It's about cops and robbers," said Earle, a Democrat. "This is an investigation of a crime."

Earle is directing a grand jury investigation into whether corporate money was used illegally to help Republican candidates in the 2002 state House elections. The money was spent by the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority, a committee founded by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

Earle on Friday released hundreds of pages of documents sought by Texas Republican Chairwoman Tina Benkiser in an open records request. Benkiser had said the records would show how much money Earle "is wasting on a frivolous investigation and whether he is unfairly leaking information to the media."
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2447147

Probe of GOP money delayed

Republicans accuse journalist of helping DA to slam party


10:05 PM CST on Friday, March 12, 2004


By PETE SLOVER and CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News



AUSTIN – A grand jury investigating the use of corporate money in Republican races will be unable to complete its work and will probably hand off the case to a newly convened panel at the end of March, the prosecutor said Friday.

Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle implied that the grand jury work was delayed by an open records request from the state Republican Party for all correspondence between his office and journalists, which GOP officials said they believed would show coordination of negative stories.
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The Travis County grand jury has been investigating Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) and the Texas Association of Business (TAB) for a combined $2.5 million the groups spent from corporate funds. It is illegal in Texas to use corporate money as a political contribution or expenditure. Both groups have contended the corporate money was used for nonpolitical activities.

With a pile of phone and e-mail records, Republicans on Friday accused an Austin journalist of working with Mr. Earle to slam the GOP, after e-mails showed the political writer gave the prosecutor advance versions of the article he was writing.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/031304dntexgopprobe.53698.html
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<i>""The revelation that Mr. Earle is so closely coordinating the publication of negative newspaper articles about Republicans only reinforces the belief that the primary purpose of his investigation is to unfairly hang Republicans in the media," Royer said. "</i>

You're getting too close and the rethuglicans (including DeLay) are going to be exposed.

And I think the Republican-led investigations of the past have given us a wide berth on what constitutes relevant, material and competent evidence.