Delay indicted

Tom DeLay stepped down as House majority leader today after a Texas grand just indicted him on charges of conspiracy to commit campaign fraud. Here is the essence of the charge:

"The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code," says the four-page indictment. The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to "knowingly make a political contribution" in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account. The PAC then wrote a $190,000 check to an arm of the Republican National Committee

DeLay has denied committing any crime and accused the Democratic district attorney leading the investigation, Ronnie Earle, of pursuing the case for political motives.

Let's see what happens. An indictment is not a conviction. An attorney once said something along the lines that you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. In other words, the grand jury set up leans heavily towards to prosecution. Obviously a much higher burden of proof will be needed to obtain a conviction. Having said all that, Tom DeLay knows whether he is guilty. If he is guilty he should resign from congress now rather than wait for the conviction. If truly innocent he should fight to the end.