Ethics watchdog sues for Tom DeLay FBI files

 The ethics watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) went to federal court today in an effort to pry loose records from the Tom DeLay investigation.

Gillman reports from our DC bureau: http://dallasne.ws/hNgzZy

Will Tom DeLay go to prison? Don't count on it

Everybody knows that Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday for money laundering. But what are the chances he'll actually see the inside of a jail cell? A defiant DeLay vowed to beat sentence  on appeal. None other than the judge in the case -- Senior Judge Pat Priest -- raised the possibility that he might.

Slater: http://dallasne.ws/gIf75m

Tom DeLay gets three years in prison on money laundering, conspiracy charges

AP: AUSTIN – A judge ordered U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison Monday for his role in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.
http://dallasne.ws/fT9kSg

Slater: Bristol Palin, Tom DeLay reflect the country's polarized political dance

"Compromise was bad. Partisanship was good. Dividing voters, us vs. them, was the way to win elections."

http://bit.ly/e2iZRm

Jury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering trial

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress - was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts against DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge.


The AP's Juan Lozano reports: http://dallasne.ws/hmTHbW

Tom DeLay: I'll win my case, then go after the prosecutor

Tom DeLay says once his money-laundering trial is over - and he expects to win - he intends to go after the public integrity unit that brought his indictment in the first place. Under state law, the Travis County district attorney is authorized to prosecute corruption cases against Texas politicians. It's been doing it for years - prosecuting Attorney General Jim Mattox and House Speaker Gib Lewis (both Democrats) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (a Republican). But DeLay said Tuesday that when the unit targeted him, it went too far.
Slater reports: http://dallasne.ws/cRXQyQ

Tom DeLay still defiant as his day in court nears

Slater:
AUSTIN — Tom DeLay was back in court Tuesday in a case that’s had more turns than a season of Dancing With the Stars. It has been five years since his indictment on charges of political money laundering. DeLay wanted a quick trial in 2005, but he didn’t get it.
http://dallasne.ws/bvrUoN