Earle vs. Delay

UPDATE: The Political Teen has video (as usual).

There are many who have accused Ronnie Earle of simple partisanship for his indictment of Tom Delay. As of yet, no proof has been given at all to the charge Earle has made, but that is probably the proper path. What is suspicious, however, is the lack of any charge other than conspiracy. After months of looking into Delay, the only charge Earle has made is that Delay 'knew about' the actions, not that he committed any crime.

What is far more suspicious however, is this:

For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case.

Why would anyone allow extraordinary access in a case they are honestly pursuing? Hmmm. I wonder. Perhaps, these three quotes from the story explain the indictment itself:

Birnbaum and Schermbeck showed a work-in-progress version of The Big Buy last month at the Dallas Video Festival. At the moment, they do not have a deal for the film to be shown anywhere else. Their last film, Larry v. Lockney, was shown on PBS, and they hope that perhaps a similar arrangement might be made for the new picture. Whoever ends up showing it, the film has so far been funded entirely by its makers. "We tried really hard to get it funded," Birnbaum says, "but we didn't get any takers."

Earle "allowed us behind the scenes when the indictments came down last year, the first wave of indictments," Schermbeck says. "We got to follow him back to his home a couple of times, which I understand he doesn't allow anybody to do."

So far, The Big Buy has received almost no attention in the press. With DeLay's indictment, and increased attention to Earle as well, that situation seems likely to change. (The filmmakers say they will be back at work next week, filming a new ending to the picture.) "We're pretty low on everybody's radar," Schermbeck says. "We kind of took a gamble three years ago. We didn't know what was going to happen. We feel like, as documentary filmmakers, we gambled and it paid off."

I don't think Earle is stupid enough to be getting bribed; but I would not at all be surprised if he was looking for a little partisan fame.

Technorati tags: Delay, Earle, Movie.