DeLay Indicted!

And has stepped down from his position as Majority Leader. Until they came under criticism for their unbelievable cronyism House Republicans had previously passed a rule change so that leadership would not have to step down if indicted by a grand jury. Unfortunate that this didn't happen next summer, it would have been kind of nice to have this hanging over the heads of Republicans everywhere and a consistant front page story. I guess we could still have Plame on the front pages during that time to hit them over the head with though.

DeLay, 58, attended a meeting in the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert shortly after receiving word of the indictment and said afterward he notified Hastert that he would "temporarily step aside" as majority leader. GOP House rules require that any member of Congress who is indicted must step down from a leadership position. However, there is no requirement that DeLay leave his congressional seat.

In the indictment, DeLay is accused of conspiring with two associates who have already been indicted: John Colyandro, the former executive director of a political action committee in Texas that was formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, the head of DeLay's national political committee.

At the heart of the case are corporate contributions of about $190,000 that prosecutors allege were essentially laundered by DeLay and his associates through transfers from a federal fund into a state fund.