Media Matters for America

On the October 3 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster reported that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) called Ronnie Earle -- the Travis County, Texas, district attorney who filed conspiracy and money laundering charges against DeLay -- "a partisan fanatic, a rogue district attorney." But Shuster did not inform viewers that of the 15 previous instances in which Earle has won an indictment against a government official, 12 involved charges against Democrats.

To clarify the continuing misinformation that has been propagated on this subject (see here, here, here, here, and here), Media Matters for America has compiled a list of those prosecutions below. Partial lists of officials Earle has prosecuted can also be found on the websites of the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle (subscription only).

Republicans:

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, 1993

Hutchison was indicted September 27, 1993, on felony charges of official misconduct, tampering with government records, and tampering with physical evidence during her tenure as Texas state treasurer. The original charges were dismissed October 26, 1993, due to unrelated criminal charges against one of the members of the grand jury that issued the indictment. Hutchison was re-indicted December 8, 1993, on felony charges of official misconduct, tampering with government records, and tampering with physical evidence, and one misdemeanor count of official misconduct. A judge rejected four out of the five charges on December 27, 1993, telling prosecutors they needed to add more details to the charges. Hutchison was later re-indicted on these charges. A judge acquitted Hutchison of all charges on February 11, 1994, after Earle declined to present any evidence against her. At the time, Earle explained that he feared the judge would suppress evidence crucial to the prosecution. The judge had refused to issue a ruling on the evidence prior to the trial, and there would have been no opportunity to appeal if the judge suppressed the evidence once the trial had begun. According to the February 12, 1994, Houston Chronicle, Earle explained, "We were convinced that the public interest demanded that we not proceed to a verdict that we thought was going to be unfair, that would set a new standard [for public officials' behavior] that would not be in the public interest." [Houston Chronicle, 9/28/93, 10/27/93, 12/28/93, 1/12/94, 2/12/94]
Texas Rep. Charles Staniswalis (Amarillo), 1990

Staniswalis was indicted on charges of tampering with government records and pleaded guilty to felony theft in 1990. [Knight Ridder, 9/29/05; Houston Chronicle, 3/18/04 (subscription only)]
Texas Rep. Mike Martin (Longview), 1981

Martin was indicted September 3, 1981, on felony charges of aggravated perjury for falsely testifying that he did not have himself shot to gain favorable publicity. He pleaded guilty on April 22, 1982, to a misdemeanor charge of perjury and agreed not to run for re-election. [Associated Press, 9/3/91, 4/22/82]

Democrats:

From the October 3 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: If I'm a supporter of Tom DeLay, I would say two times zero is zero.

SHUSTER: Right. I mean, Tom DeLay last week said that this prosecutor is a partisan fanatic, a rogue district attorney. There's nothing today that will cause him to alter that. But now the prosecutor may get some street credibility from fellow attorneys in Texas who like the charges.

*Honts was a Democrat when convicted of crimes in 1979 and 1984. According to the February 13, 1998, edition of The Austin Chronicle, he changed his party affiliation in 1997 to Republican.

MSNBC's Shuster reported DeLay's accusation that Earle is a partisan, ignored Earle's record of prosecuting more Democrats than Republicans