Ronnie Earle to Back Successor Articles / Danger - Tom Delay in Congress Date: Jan 08, 2008 - 12:12 AM |
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Earle to back successor, raise money on Web By Laylan Copelin Ralph Barrera AMERICAN-STATESMAN Monday, January 07, 2008 Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle may not be seeking re-election on the 2008 ballot, but he's hardly getting out of politics. Earle, who is retiring after more than 30 years in office, has scheduled a news conference this morning to endorse a candidate in the four-way race to succeed him. He said Sunday that he also is close to lending his name for Democratic fundraising on the Internet, a move that would tap his national profile to help Democrats across the country and could tip the fundraising scales in the local district attorney's race. The beneficiary of the endorsement and Earle's expected fundraising prowess on the Internet is expected to be Rosemary Lehmberg, his first assistant, who has worked in the district attorney's office as long as Earle has. The other candidates, all Democrats, also work for Earle: Gary Cobb, Rick Reed and Mindy Montford. Today's news conference will be at 10:30 a.m. in the plaza between the Travis County Courthouse and the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center. Earle declined Sunday night to say whom he would endorse. However, he said he is close to agreeing to help with the Internet effort. Nate Wilcox, a Democratic consultant who has moved from Texas to Alexandria, Va., said he has been talking to Earle about a new role for him now that he's retiring. "He has a lot of street cred with the Tom DeLay investigations," Wilcox said. "His reputation is pretty primo online." Earle has attempted to prosecute DeLay, the former U.S. House majority leader from Sugar Land who was once considered the second-most powerful Texan in Washington, since the 2002 elections. An indictment accusing DeLay of violating state election laws has been thrown out by the courts, but a money-laundering indictment is pending from the same campaign events. DeLay is accused of laundering corporate donations, which cannot be used in connection with state campaigns, into campaign donations to seven state House candidates. DeLay has denied wrongdoing, accusing Earle of abusing his office. The indictments forced DeLay to resign as majority leader, and he retired from Congress in 2006 rather than run for re-election while under indictment. DeLay's fall has made Earle a folk hero among some Democrats. Wilcox, the co-author of "Netroots Rising," is a consultant who focuses on raising money on the Internet. In 2004, he said, he raised $500,000 over the Internet for Richard Morrison, a Democratic opponent of DeLay. He said Earle's national reputation would help raise money that could be targeted for DeLay associates still in public office. While Wilcox is focusing on national targets, Earle's emergence on the Internet could be tapped for the district attorney's race in Travis County as well. "I've been told by the Internet experts that it would be successful and fast," Earle said. Earle said he feels free to consider raising money on the Internet because he's not seeking re-election for the first time since 1977, when he became district attorney. The race for district attorney is a sprint: Early voting will begin Feb. 19, and the primary is March 4. A runoff, if necessary, would be a month later. Because no Republican has filed, the Democratic nominee would be the presumptive successor to Earle. Earle's involvement could offset the perceived fundraising advantage by Montford, whose father is a former state senator and chancellor of Texas Tech University and is currently a chief lobbyist for AT&T. Montford's father has been a prolific fundraiser in all those jobs. lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617 |
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