DeLay Donor Files Bankruptcy (Beats Deadline)

[Carla in Ca]

This is the most ironic and hypocritical thing I've seen from the GOP in the last...er, uh...hour.

It seems that one of DeLay's businessmen cronies -- who served as Treasurer of the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC -- has filed for personal bankruptcy, in the face of lawsuits stemming from his various alleged wrongdoings in financing campaigns to defeat Democrats.

That's right. Here's one guy who made sure the bankruptcy law passed -- but apparently feels the need to beat the October 17 deadline for filing for bankruptcy before that bankruptcy law takes effect. He doesn't want those new bankruptcy rules applying to HIM, of course.

Rep. Delay, the former U.S. House majority leader, and three of his lieutenants continue to fight a flurry of criminal charges stemming from how the political action committee used corporate money during the 2002 statehouse elections. But Mr. Ceverha was the lone defendant in a lawsuit lost by TRMPAC earlier this year.

A state district judge found that TRMPAC improperly raised and spent $600,000 in corporate contributions to help GOP candidates in House elections. The suit was brought by three Democrats who lost in those elections, and the court ordered Mr. Ceverha to pay $196,000 in damages.
"There was no end in sight unless I took this action. I have no inclination nor the money to just carry on this fight forever."

MORE
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/14/233553/37>
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No pity for this man but I don't think he is getting any of his phone calls returned. Hung out to dry. The repugs really do eat their own.

[napi21]

1. Is the suit over for this guy, or is there more to come?

I wonder if the total penalty can be dismissed by the bankruptcy? You know, it still has to go through bankruptcy court and another judge. It depends on what he currently has, and of course the new judge!

[Carla in Ca]

2. I read the accompanying article that included

greater detail but when I went back to get the link, it was a registration page. I'll go fill it out to get the article and post it. He definitely got left holding the bag on this one and I don't know if he has other charges pending.

Here is a little more...

The treasurer of a political committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay violated Texas election code by not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and expenditures, a civil judge ruled today.

State District Judge Joe Hart, in a letter to attorneys outlining his ruling, said the money should have been reported to the Texas Ethics Commission.

The ruling means Bill Ceverha, treasurer of the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee, will have to pay just under $200,000 to be divided among five losing Democratic candidates in 2002 legislative races. Those candidates brought the lawsuit against Ceverha.

Ceverha's lawyers argued in court earlier this year that the group operated legally despite the confusion of state campaign funding laws.
<http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/005540.html>

[napi21]

3. I can only HOPE this case will be able to be used in the suit against

DeLay! It does sound like this Ceverha has been abandoned by good old Tom! The old, use 'em and lose 'em tactic!

I hope it's enough for him to turn on old Tom!!!!

[Carla in Ca]

4. I think it is

What would he have to lose?
Also, it emboldened Earle to proceed. Look at this paragraph:


That's huge, because the defense in the criminal case is that the money was spent on "administrative" expenses, not "campaign" expenses. A ruling for Ceverha would likely have led to a dismissal of at least some of the charges against the criminal defendants. The actual ruling strengthens the prosecution's case against them. Maybe this will increase the pressure on them to try to cut a deal.

Here is a poll from SUSA done 10/10/05 from DeLay's district

Resign from Congress: 40%
Resign Leadership, 19%
Remain Leader: 39%
Not Sure: 3%

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Tom DeLay is doing?

Disapprove: 48%
Approve: 46%
Not Sure: 6%

This is a real irony. He does all the nasty deeds to get the redistricting done that ousted 5 Dems. But he also got a lot of new constituents to his district, and they may well boot him!
Gotta love it!

[cantstandbush]

5. Oh, this is rich! let's pummel the MSM with this until they report on

it in prime time.

[Czolgosz]

6. I think we will see many Republicans regret the elimination of bankruptcy

protections for most ordinary persons. Medical woes are a leading cause of bankruptcy and that is nonpartisan issue. Also there are many anti-regulation torture-chamber-of-commerce types who run unsafe, slipshod businesses and when these guys are held to responsible for their reckless conduct which harms other people, they will no longer be able to shrug of the financial responsibility in bankruptcy.

Now that bankruptcy is largely been set aside as a corporate privilege that common folks have no access to, there will be a crisis of tragedies caused by out-of-control medical care costs. I can only hope that these financial tragedies will finally spur a new drive for single payer universal health insurance.

[BlueWolf]

7. Agreed

More Republican hypocrisy. It doesn't surprise me when billionaire Republicans vote for laws like this (they're just looking out for themselves), but most Republicans are far from billionaire's and that's what I could never understand- the poor Republicans are essentially voting against themselves. The blue states are among the wealthiest states in the nation, while the red are among the poorest. A lot of Bush votes are going to be regretting their support for bankruptcy reform, I'm sure, but what I wonder is how many will blame themselves? Just like every other problem they create, I'm sure they'll distort their interpretation of reality once again to somehow blame the Democrats.

[newyawker99]

8. Hi BlueWolf!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[BlueWolf]

10. Thank you!

I just joined a few days ago. I'm happy I did. Everyone here seems like very nice people. Thanks again for the welcome.

[liberalitch]

9. Well, well..... I guess he's in the same boat with me and my commie beau.

We both filed to meet the deadline too.

Except we decided to do it to rid ourselves of medical bills:
$50,000 for him (got hit by a car and in Va. if you've been drinking you can't sue)
$25,000 for me (emergency surgery before I got my good job with insurance).... well one credit card.

.... gee I wonder if his are medical bills