State District Judge Pat Priest dismissed conspiracy charges against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two political aides on Monday afternoon, but they could still face trial on charges of money laundering (all three men) and illegal use of corporate money in campaigns (DeLay's associates).`` A copy of Priest's order is available online in our Files section, at www.texasweekly.com/documents.The judge struck conspiracy charges against Colyandro and Ellis, but they still face charges of money laundering and making illegal political contributions. He dismissed a conspiracy charge against all three men, but left in place charges alleging money laundering against them. Priest said defendants' questions about prosecutorial misconduct might require a hearing; if the defense lawyers prevail there, it could result dismissal of the remaining charges against the three men. DeLay's lawyers, joined by lawyers for Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, two political aides to the Sugar Land Republican, have raised questions about how prosecutors worked with three separate grand juries in less than a week to produce the latest indictments. Also pending are defense motions to move the trial out of Travis County; they contend their chances of a fair trial have been poisoned by coverage of the investigation and by the anti-Republican political leanings of the county's residents. Priest, in an email to reporters, said the prosecutors have until December 20 to appeal his ruling if they wish to do so. In a written statement, prosecutors said they haven't decided on their next step. Lawyers for the defendants attacked the conspiracy charges early on, saying prosecutors were accusing their clients of breaking laws that weren't in effect at the time. Priest agreed with them and tossed those charges. But while he said there couldn't be charges of conspiracy to illegally use corporate money in an election, there were laws at the time restricting the use of corporate money in campaigns. Those charges, he left in place. And he laid out the charges much more plainly than the prosecutors have ever managed to do. "The Election Code by its express terms prohibits the giving or receiving of corporate funds for the purpose of financing a candidate's election effort... A person may not knowingly make or accept a political contribution in violation of Chapter 253... Therefore, a contribution intended by the corporation to be used for financing a candidate is unlawful. Likewise, if one solicits corporate contributions with an unlawful intent to divert the funds to a candidate a violation by the diverter occurs when the funds are actually so diverted, without regard to the intention of the corporate giver. Finally, if corporate contributions are received for a lawful purpose but subsequently diverted to an unlawful purpose, a violation of the election code occurs when the funds are so diverted and actually distributed to an individual candidate." Priest followed that with a footnote saying he's not in a position to judge the facts in this case, but is just laying out the substance of the charges. Prosecutors still have to prove any of that stuff happened. DeLay's lawyers contended that money moved around by Texans for a Republican Majority PAC was in the form of checks. The laws refer to funds, and they said there was a difference. Priest disagreed, and laid out what the prosecutors have to do to prove money-laundering charges: "If the State can prove that funds were obtained from corporate contributors by these defendants with the express intent of converting those funds to the use of individual candidates, or if the state can prove that these defendants entered into an agreement to convert the monies already on hand, though originally received for lawful purposes, to that use by sending the money to the Republican National State Elections Committee with an agreement that funds of the same amount would then be made available by that committee to individual candidates for Texas political office, and can prove that funds in the same amount were in fact contributed to individual candidates by the Republican National State Elections Committee, then they will have established that money was laundered. The money would have become "dirty money? at the point that it began to be held with the prohibited intent. Of course, if the state cannot establish that beyond a reasonable doubt, then the defendants will be entitled to be acquitted." Priest then went through an array of cases that spell out just what is and is not money laundering. In one, he flagged an argument that's been made in defense of what TRMPAC and the RNSEC did in 2002: "Incidentally, the court [in one of the cases cited] also held that the fact that dirty money is commingled with other, non-dirty money does not prohibit a finding of money laundering." One defense offered in this case is that transactions mentioned in the indictments were only a part of the business between the state and national political organizations. In the indictments, the men are accused of accepting $190,000 in corporate contributions which they then sent to the RNSEC, which then contributed the same amount -- in non-corporate money -- to seven candidates for the Texas House of Representatives.

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's troubles are more political than legal at the moment; voters in his district say they'd prefer an unnamed Democrat to the Sugar Land Republican.First, he needs a relatively quick ending to his legal tangles in Austin if he's to regain the leadership job he lost because of the indictments. Even if he wins dismissal of the charges or is acquitted, he can lose the political game. The folks keeping his seat warm will eventually want it for themselves if he takes too long to free himself of the prosecutors in Travis County. And his travails in Texas and in Washington are starting to erode his support at home. A Gallup Poll done for USA Today and CNN shows an unnamed Democrat would beat him 49-36 with registered voters in his district, and 47-34 with all residents (registered and not) there. Those sorts of results generally tighten up when the unnamed candidate gets a name. In this case, former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, who moved from Beaumont to run against DeLay, has the advantage of being relatively unknown. If you read that to mean that voters don't have much to hold against him, you can make the argument that their dislike for the incumbent could carry the day. DeLay's argument is more likely to be that voters won't like Lampson when they know him better, and there's almost a year left for that educational process. When asked about the Democrat, 28 percent of registered voters had favorable impressions of him, 11 percent had unfavorable impressions, and 37 percent had never heard of him. Asked about DeLay, 37 percent had favorable impressions, 52 percent were unfavorable, and 1 percent had never heard of him. (In both cases, the balance of the voters registered no opinion.) DeLay's lawyers have talked about trying to move his trial -- if there is one -- from Travis to Fort Bend County. They might want to do some research first: Gallup found that 55 percent of adults in his district think the charges against him are "definitely" or "probably" true; 31 percent think the campaign finance charges are "probably not" or "definitely not" true. They were split pretty evenly (45-43 percent) when asked whether prosecutors were fairly enforcing the law or trying to hurt DeLay politically. The survey was based on phone interviews with 803 adults in the congressional district; the margin of error was +/- 4 percentage points.

Tom DeLay's lawyers are asking State District Judge Pat Priest to hit the gas -- they want quick resolutions to his legal troubles and want the judge to set hearings right away.They're also asking him to separate the indictments against DeLay, a move that would allow Priest to move immediately on money-laundering charges against the Texas congressman while he waits on the state for its reaction to rulings on other charges. The judge has said he'll wait a couple of weeks to give prosecutors time to decide whether they want to appeal his ruling dismissing part of their indictments against DeLay and two co-defendants. Still pending are DeLay's requests for a change of venue and his challenge that prosecutors illegally manipulated grand jury proceedings to indict him. In a letter and a motion, DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin asked the judge to call a venue hearing for next week and to set a tentative trial date for early January. That would allow things to keep moving on remaining charges even while Priest waits to see what the prosecutors decide about the dismissed indictment. In his letter, DeGuerin nodded to politics, saying DeLay's legal predicament is messing with his day job: "As I have stressed before, disposition of these charges as soon as possible is our urgent request. Congressman DeLay was required to temporarily step down from his leadership position in Congress because of the return of the first indictment, which charged a non-existent crime. The continued pendency of these charges adversely affects the business of the 22nd Congressional District and the United States Congress."

Independent candidates don't have to file with their political parties, but do have to file papers with the Texas Secretary of State stating their intent to run. And they have the same deadlines -- filing between now and the close of business on January 2.That's why Richard Friedman -- better known as Kinky -- made an appearance at the state Capitol. There's also that side benefit of TV cameras and people with pens and skinny notebooks who showed up to scribble about it. Friedman will apparently be the first Texas gubernatorial candidate on television. His campaign plans to uncork three spots next week and to have them up and running two weeks before Christmas. At our deadlines, the content wasn't available, but his aides have said they'll be pushing holiday sales of the Kinky action figure loaded with 25 of the candidates comments and slogans. It's one of the few dolls we know of that comes with a toy cigar. We're not sure it amounts to anything at this point, but pollsters working for an unidentified candidate have been asking respondents whether they would support Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in a big for governor as a Republican, or as an independent candidate. In the first case, she'd be up against Gov. Rick Perry in a primary with hard-core GOP voters who've shown a decided lean to the incumbent. In the second, assuming she could quickly build an organization to get her the signatures to get on the ballot, she'd probably be in a four-way race with Perry, Friedman, and the winner of an increasingly populated Democratic primary. More candidates, but also a completely different set of voters. Because of those deadlines cited above, you'll know by the first week of 2006 what she's up to: Her filings will show you what path she's on. Texas Democrats might be at ebb tide, but they'll have candidates in at least four of the contests for statewide office and their gubernatorial primary might grow. Houston lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky filed papers to run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. She hopes to knock off U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison next year, and plans to do it with issues. You can look at the whole enchilada on her website, at www.radnofsky.com. Click on "Ten Proposals and Positions". We'd have pointed out this next bit even if she hadn't pointed it out to us: It's got more footnotes than the organ at church. The Democratic primary for governor could have three people in it. Former legislator and judge Bob Gammage, who now lives in Llano, appears closer to running for that office. Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston planned to sign up during the first week of filing, and educator Felix Alvarado of Fort Worth, who lost three-to-one in 2004 to U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, has said he'll run for the top state job. Alvarado's sister, Maria Luisa Alvarado, is running for lieutenant governor. And David Van Os, a San Antonio lawyer and populist Democrat who's been on the ballot for statewide judicial office in the past, is running this time for attorney general. He had some words for a group of political reporters: "We Democrats all support each other, we all love each other... and we've all got big surprises for your cynical editors next November." Three Republicans have possible cakewalks ahead, although talking about it too early is like breaking a mirror or chasing a black cat under a ladder. Susan Combs, Todd Staples and Jerry Patterson do not, at the moment, have Democratic opponents for comptroller, agriculture commissioner and land commissioner.

Alex Castano, running in a crowded Republican field to replace Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, in HD-47, picked up an endorsement from Texas Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo. Carrillo, the first statewide official to endorse in that contest, lives in the district. Castano also added a new line to his campaign literature, saying he's the only candidate in the race with kids in public schools and thus has a vested interest in education reform and school finance. That's true now, but until this year, he and his wife schooled them at home. • Shane Sklar, a Democrat from Edna who is challenging U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, got the endorsement of the Texas Farm Bureau's political action committee (it's called AGFUND). Sklar, a rancher, is the executive director of the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas. • Rep. Joe Strauss, R-San Antonio, won a special election to get that job and now wants a full term. And he starts with an out-of-district endorsement from Rudy Giuliani of New York. Think about this: He didn't use Giuliani to attract supporters, but surprised them at a fundraiser. The guy from New York must have been interested in seeing some of San Antonio's money folk.

Special elections, leaked polls, candidates who won't and those who will, and getting money from dead corporationsVoters in Houston pick a state representative this weekend, settling the runoff contest between Ana Hernandez and Laura Salinas in HD-143. The winner will replace the late Joe Moreno, D-Houston. • The next special election on the plate will replace Rep. Todd Baxter, R-Austin, in HD-48. Ben Bentzin is the only Republican who's signed up. He'll face at least two Democrats: Donna Howard and Kathy Rider, both of whom have school board credentials on their resumes. Kelly White, who lost to Baxter in 2004, apparently won't run with all those Democrats in the hunt. And Andy Brown hasn't signed up for the special amidst questions of whether he's lived in the district long enough to be eligible for the January election (he is eligible for the regular election). Filing in that race is open through December 19. • Dan Patrick, the radio talker who's running for state Senate in Houston, touts a poll that shows him ahead of the other candidates -- Mark Ellis, Peggy Hamric, and Joe Nixon -- in a four-way race. He's at 38 percent, according to his survey, followed by Hamric at 13.3, Nixon at 8.5 percent and Ellis at 7.8 percent (the margin is +/- 4.9 percent). It also contends he's got higher favorable ratings than the others, by far, and that his unfavorables are lower than Ellis', while higher than the two state representatives. The battle there is well underway; Nixon has launched his second round of television spots. These focus on immigration policy, mainly a federal concern, but an issue that apparently polls well with GOP primary voters (in Houston and elsewhere). • San Antonio City Councilman Richard Perez told the Express-News he won't run for the HD-118 seat opened by Rep. Carlos Uresti's decision to run for Senate. Only one candidate -- Republican Steve Salyer -- is in that House race at the moment. Salyer lost in 2004 to Uresti, by a 15-point margin. Uresti is passing on a reelection bid to challenge Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio. • A couple of incumbent Republicans have obstacles between them and reelection bids. Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, drew Chris Hatley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, in the primary. Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, will face Lubbock businessman Van Wilson in March. • When he quit the chairmanship of the Dallas County GOP, Nate Crain said he might run for chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. He's not saying it's a go, but in an email to members of the State Republican Executive Committee, he raises a bunch of questions about the current condition of the RPT. That email says the party has less money on hand than any of its big-state counterparts and questions whether the Texas GOP has an "active major donor program," and no finance director or finance committee. He also questions the party's decision to "rush into an agreement with the Travis County Attorney to limit the RPT Get Out the Vote effort in 2006, when a more aggressive approach would have been appropriate." He's trying to light a firecracker: The SREC meets over the weekend. • Blood from Turnips Department: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says his office got $8.3 million in back taxes out of the bankruptcy estate of Enron, the dead Houston energy company.