DeLay Team Move to Have Judge Perkins Removed From Case

You certainly can’t blame DeLay’s defense team from moving to have judge Bob Perkins removed from hearing DeLay’s case:

Judge Perkins Politics

Per the AP:

DeLay's attorneys have cited 34 political contributions Perkins has made to Democrats since 2000, including donations to MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group that has waged a campaign against DeLay.

Perkins is the same judge who stepped aside in a case brought by the same DA Ronnie Earl against another Texas Republican back in 1994:

Perkins has declined to recuse himself from the DeLay case. He voluntarily stepped aside in a similar 1994 case against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who also was represented by DeGuerin. Perkins had made a contribution to Hutchison's political opponent. Hutchison was acquitted of misconduct charges.

More than a coincidence I’d say in the theme that Ronnie Earl and Perkins have going on down in Austin……………………………………..

Update 11/1 3PM_____________________________________________

DeLay got his new judge:

New Judge

Per AP:

State Judge Bob Perkins, who has made campaign donations to Democrats, will be replaced by another judge, said C. W. Duncan, the judge deciding the recusal motion by DeLay. That judge was not named Tuesday.

"This is the wrong case for Judge Perkins to judge because of his perfectly permissible activity as a Democrat and as a partisan and as a supporter of Democratic causes," DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin said after the four-hour hearing.

Ronnie Earle is starting to crack-up however and did not seem to like the fact that his fellow Democrat fundraiser would not be the judge of record:

District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who heads the criminal investigation into DeLay's fund-raising activities, watched in the courtroom while his deputies questioned witnesses. He got up at the end of the hearing and chided DeLay's attorneys for repeatedly calling it a "political case."

"This is not a political case; this is a criminal case," Earle said. "Mr. DeLay stands charged with a felony."