Ronnie Earle
PER
Ronnie Earle Earle
It ultimately wound up as a criminal case, with Mr. DeLay and his allies coming into the cross hairs of Ronnie Earle, the Democratic district attorney of Travis County, Tex. It was Mr. Earle's argument that Mr. DeLay had engineered the Republican takeover of the Texas legislature in 2002 by breaking a state law banning companies from donating to individual candidates, essentially laundering tens of thousands of dollars in contributions through the Republican National Committee. Mr. Birnbaum and Mr. Schermbeck insist that Mr. Earle had shared no secrets with them, and that they acted and were treated no differently from any journalists covering the case.  It ultimately wound up as a criminal case, with Mr. DeLay and his allies coming into the crosshairs of Ronnie Earle, the Democratic district attorney of Travis County, Tex. It was Mr. Earle's argument, in the indictment, that Mr. DeLay had engineered the Republican takeover of the Texas legislature in 2002 by breaking a state law. Mr. Birnbaum and Mr. Schermbeck insist that Mr. Earle had shared no secrets with them and that they acted and were treated no differently from any journalists covering the case.