By Jennifer Bendery, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
Last week, it was an indictment for illegal corporate contributions. This week, a Travis County grand jury added insult to injury when handing down a second indictment against U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) on a new charge of money laundering, a first-degree felony charge. The indictment was handed down just hours after DeLay's attorney argued that last week's indictment should be dismissed since the conspiracy statute was not in effect at the time.
The new indictment accuses DeLay and two political associates - John Colyandro, executive director of the Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, and James Ellis, executive director of Americans for a Republican Majority - of violating state election laws that prohibit corporate contributions to election campaigns. The three are accused of funneling money to the Republican National Committee through a political action committee as a means of skirting the prohibition. DeLay already has been forced to step down from his Majority Leader post after last week's indictment.
In other national news, Texan Harriet Miers, White House counsel to President George W. Bush, on Monday was nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Miers, former personal attorney to Bush in Texas, has never served as a judge, but Bush emphasized that judges should be "drawn from a wide diversity of professional backgrounds." U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) applauded Bush for making "a wise choice" in selecting Miers, whom she described as "a trailblazer in the legal community" who brings "a much-needed gender and geographical balance to the high court."
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday met with several Mexican governors to discuss trade and security issues, calling trade with Mexico "vital" to the Texas economy since the "border region is the gateway to the future - not the back door to our state and nation." He noted that Texas companies last year exported $46 billion in goods and services to Mexico, which is 40 percent of the state's net export total. Perry also expressed his gratitude that water debt, which has accumulated over more than a decade and has been an issue of great contention between Texas and Mexico, has been resolved. As of last week, Rio Grande Valley growers have been repaid all the water they were owed.
Responding to a recent State Auditor's report highlighting the failure of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to achieve the $21.7 million in savings expected from outsourcing human resources and payroll functions to a private company, Sens. Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) and Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) on Thursday called for a Special Joint Interim Committee to scrutinize all contracts issued by HHSC.
In a letter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the senators expressed concern over the audit's findings that described HHSC's inability to accurately estimate savings and properly document actions. Barrientos said he sent a letter to HHSC in Feb. 2004 asking the agency to reconsider privatizing payroll and human resources, but "was assured in a response that 'as good stewards of taxpayer dollars' the Commission would 'carefully establish their criteria' and 'focus on performance and accountability.'" Since then, he said he has fielded reports from state employees unable to access the HR system, use their vacation time and receive a paycheck. Barrientos said this is "unacceptable" and urged increased legislative scrutiny "before we move further down the often one-way street of privatization."
Meanwhile, over in the House chamber, Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) announced on Tuesday that he is seeking an investigation of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) through a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. The complaint, which is being filed on behalf of Gulf Shores Academy Charter School in Houston, asks for an investigation into TEA's relationship with charter schools in Texas. The complaint is going through the Office of Civil Rights because one issue in the ongoing battle is "the race of these children who are going to these schools," said Dutton.
Since the inception of Gulf Shores, TEA has been threatening closure of the facility, said Dutton. The agency has been in the facility more than 25 times "to audit something," he said. If Gulf Shores did not exist, that would eliminate an alternative for education services for a group of students who "are black for the most part, and brown." The Houston lawmaker added that he also will file an open records request of TEA, seeking every document at the agency relating to Gulf Shores.
Homework: It's time again for that old rivalry to flare up between Texas and Oklahoma. Gov. Rick Perry already has placed his wager with Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry over this weekend's 100th Red River Shootout between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University football teams at the Cotton Bowl. "There is no way the Sooners are going to be able to stop the Longhorn stampede - especially since their defensive line plays on roller skates," Perry asserted. "I say Texas is going to shellac Oklahoma 41-10, and that's being charitable." Gov. Henry, however, has faith that the Oklahoma team will "make Saturday a triumphant one for the Crimson and Cream.
Tune in on Saturday at noon to see which team gets shellacked.