WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.

DeLay, 58, was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

"I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today," DeLay said.

Tom DeLay has been a festering sore on the backside of American Politics for a while now. It is good to see this case moving forward, even if it took action by the State of Texas rather than GOP Congressional Leaders to finaly get DeLay to step down.

It will be interesting to see how this is spun on the part of GOP Leadership.

In the Right blogspere, there is much discussion going on about the case:

Jeff G has a good piece on the subject.

Wizbang reports the story without comment.

Say Anything, notes the news but no comment yet.

I will cover the left reaction later. Busy day today.

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Posted by: Alex at September 28, 2005 05:27 PM