Thursday, October 20, 2005 DeLay Arrest Warrant & MS Gov Barbour's Crimes AssocPress: A TX state crt issued an arrest warrant on Weds for Rep Tom DeLay requiring him to appear in TX for booking on state conspiracy and money laundering charges. He could be fingerprinted and photographed, although his lawyers had hoped to avoid this step. DeLay probably will surrender in his home county of Fort Bend, near Houston, but he could go to any law enforcement office in TX. His court appearance will be in Austin. And it seems that Gov Haley Barbour (R-MS) (who happily claimed that he- unlike LA Gov Blanco- never had to call Bush during the Katrina debacle b/c 'ol Dubya kept calling him repeatedly) is tied up in DeLay's mess, via Jackson Free Press: The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care Inc. was formed in 2000 as a corporate coalition of 14 of the country’s largest for-profit nursing home companies to help ease the way for the corporate consolidation of the nursing-home industry. The coalition opposed Medicare cuts and govt regulation of nursing-home standards and consolidation, and most vitally, wanted low caps on the lawsuit damages the companies had to pay for injuring nursing-home residents. The coalition was willing to pay top dollar to ensure the election of candidates who agreed with its agenda. Enlisting the top-dollar aid of Barbour and his firm, the Alliance lobbied hard for its wish list to be fulfilled. It also directed impressive campaign donations to mostly GOP candidates around the country who would, in turn, honor the wishes of one of the country’s most tenacious industries. That resolve is how a check for $100,000 written 3yrs ago this wk ended up illegally funding GOP candidates for the TX statehouse. That’s also how that canceled check ended as a primary exhibit in the case of State of Texas v. Thomas Dale Delay et al. Hmm... maybe that's why 'ol Dubya made sure he kept calling Barbour, eh? |