On October 18, Team DeLay's spin was that D.A. Ronnie Earle "tried to coerce" DeLay into pleading guilty to a misdemeanor offence. Team DeLay attempted to portray Earle as a desperate D.A. that was forced to charge DeLay on felony counts because his plea proposal was rejected.

It turns out that that was only half the story. According to the Washington Post, it was Team DeLay that was seeking a plea deal in order to avoid a trial and help DeLay retain his leadership post. His lawyers are worried about statements DeLay made during an August 17 meeting with Earle. According to the Post, DeLay said:

"At that session, DeLay acknowledged that in 2002 he was informed about and expressed his support for transfers of $190,000 in mostly corporate funds from his Texas political action committee to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington and then back to Texas, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

"Those transfers are at the heart of the prosecutor's investigation of the alleged use of corporate funds in the 2002 Texas elections, in violation of state law. In the prosecutor's view, DeLay's admission put him in the middle of a conspiracy not only to violate that law but also to launder money."

Conspiracy? Money laundering? DeLay? Say it ain't so....