PHOTO-OP INDICTMENT FOR A "FILMMAKER" ACTIVIST

An arrest warrant has been issued for Rep. Tom DeLay:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday and bail set at $10,000 for former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay ahead of his scheduled court appearance this week in Austin, Texas for money laundering and conspiracy charges, a Texas court clerk said.

The so-called "capias" was a "purely procedural event" but would require DeLay to turn himself into authorities to be fingerprinted and photographed, Travis County Grand Jury Clerk Linda Estrada said.

Note the requirement to be printed and photographed. Then recall a name that shows up in Byron York's story of Sept. 29 about the case:

For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case.

The resulting film is called The Big Buy, made by Texas filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck. (emphasis added)

Jim Schermbeck is not just a filmmaker. I have been looking into Schermbeck's odd connection to the DeLay case for the past couple of weeks.

Go to this web site, and scroll down to the bottom. See a familiar name? It's Jim Schermbeck, "filmmaker." And leftwing activist. Check out this sympathetic story in the Dallas Observer, which identifies Schermbeck not as a filmmaker, but as an environmental activist.

A couple of weeks ago I spoke via phone with Harold Green, formerly of TXI in Midlothian, Texas. TXI is a cement manufacturing plant; Green was from 1995 to 2000 its director of corporate communications. Schermbeck has spent the past ten years harassing TXI over a permit it sought from the state to burn waste in its kilns. Termed hazardous waste, TXI sought to burn inks and other flammables as fuel in order to manufacture cement. Schermbeck fought against the permit to burn, but on behalf of the hazardous waste disposal industries. Their purpose, according to Green, was to force TXI into paying them to remove the waste from TXI's plant and then burn it--for fuel--themselves. Schermbeck was merely their paid activist foil to force TXI to pay them for services TXI didn't need, and would have had no impact on the environment at all, since the waste would have been burned either way. About Schermbeck, Green was unequivocal:

"First of all, he's not a filmmaker. Jim is a paid political activist, pro-Democrat, anti-Republican, anti-business liberal activist. Jim will manipulate the truth in order to make it do what he wants it to do."

Paid by whom? By Downwinders at Risk, an environmental advocacy group based in the Dallas area. Schermbeck is the group's only paid staff.

There's much more to the story, and I'm still working on it and am aware of another reporter who is as well, but for now just consider: DA Ronnie Earle has allowed this "filmmaker" inside his operation for two years. Earle's operation has been seeking an indictment of DeLay for that entire time, and grand jury shopped as his first indictment fell apart and deadlines loomed. Now here we are: The first flimsy indictment, which didn't even allege any specific actual crime had taken place, has fallen apart and that grand jury has dissolved. Grand jury #2 declined to indict. Grand jury #3 indicted, but based on evidence manufactured in Earle's office. Without that evidence, it's unlikely grand jury #3 would have indicted DeLay at all.

It's clear that this isn't a serious case and will not result in conviction. But it has resulted in a warrant for DeLay's arrest. Should such an arrest be carried out, Earle's indictment will result in a grand photo op as DeLay is probably marched in handcuffs, has his mug shot taken and is fingerprinted.

Which brings us back to Schermbeck, the "filmmaker." What better way to end his anti-DeLay film, The Big Buy, than with that visual of Rep. Tom DeLay, until recently the majority leader in the US House of Representatives, with a number plate tucked under his chin? What better way to cast Republicans, enemies both of Earle and the far left agitator Jim Schermbeck, as corrupt than with that visual? And what better to get that visual than to abuse the power of a district attorney to make sure you have the opportunity to manufacture it?

This is a photo-op indictment meant to help a "filmmaker" frame the issue of political corruption ahead of next year's mid-terms. Jim Schermbeck wants to be the next Michael Moore. And Ronnie Earle is functioning as Schermbeck's executive producer, making sure the shots, the locations, and of course the on-camera subject, are all lined up.

UPDATE: Jim Schermbeck, in his own words:

Was there a particular moment in the filming process, a particular interview, that was a turning point or an epiphany for you?

JS: We started [filming] right after the investigation started, so we weren’t sure we even had a story to tell until the first indictment came out. And it was that day of the indictment and the night of the indictment that changed things and made sure we had a film.

You don't say. And--

I understand there is the possibility of a theatrical release?

JS: Well, we are all lighting candles that that is going to happen. A theatrical release would be like hitting the lottery for people like us. We’re gonna finish the film and we’re gonna get it the best deal we can to have it seen by as many people as we can in hopes of showing them what this case was about.

What did I say about him wanting to be the next Michael Moore?

UPDATE: Just found this little gem too, from Oct. 2:

An earlier version of the film was shown to a crowd of about 300 at the Dallas Video Festival in early August, but the filmmakers plan to re-work the ending, now that Mr. DeLay has taken center stage in Mr. Earle's investigation.

"We couldn't have given this film away last month," Mr. Schermbeck said. "We couldn't get any attention for it, or any money for it. Now, we're getting the attention, but so far it's still self-financed."

Mr. DeLay's staff said he chose not to grant any interviews to the filmmakers two years ago.

Now, Mr. Schermbeck said he hopes the congressman changes his mind.

"We obviously have to do a new ending to this now, and we're going to be calling DeLay's lawyers and staff," Mr. Schermbeck said.

Asking DeLay to sit for an interview is a formality. The arrest warrant gives Schermbeck the new ending he'll need. Which is the "new ending" he has undoubtedly been seeking all along.

UPDATE: Look who donated money to Ronnie Earle's re-election campaign in 1996:

Tommy Jacks, former pres., Texas Trial Lawyers Assn., $5,000

Lee Walker and Jennifer Vickers, Capital Metro Board chair, $5,000

Ross Garber, former Vignette chief, $5,000

Jack Martin, Public Strategies owner, $5,000

Jan Lindelow, Tivoli Systems chief, $3,000

Robin Rather and David Murray, tech business owner and guitarist, $2,000 (emphasis added)

You may recall that a brouhaha erupted in April of 2001 when Gunga Dan spoke at a Democrat fundraiser organized by Robin Rather, named above as an Earle contributor. She's Dan Rather's politically active daughter. Lastly, go here and learn about Robin Rather's connection, through Ronnie Earle, to Ben Barnes (and note where the broken links in that story once led). Barnes, you may recall, featured prominently in that now debunked 60 Minutes story, reported by Dan Rather, on President Bush's National Guard service.

The daughter of former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes says her father fabricated claims made on "60 Minutes II" that he used his influence to help President Bush avoid going to Vietnam 36 years ago.

Amy Barnes Stites telephoned the Mark Davis radio show on WBAP in Dallas yesterday and described her father as a political opportunist who lied about Bush's National Guard record to help promote his upcoming book, elect John Kerry and "make Bush look like the bad person."

Hm. I'm seeing a pattern here. Someone fabricated memos purporting to demonstrate that young Lt. George W. Bush violated a direct order and was AWOL, and those fabricated memos were used in a late surprise story designed to change the outcome of the then imminent presidential election. Now, we have Ronnie Earle or someone in his office fabricating a list of candidates and using that fabricated list to obtain an indictment against House majority leader Tom DeLay, which will now be used along with DeLay's arrest photo-ops to cap off a film designed to effect next year's mid-terms.

UPDATE: Welcome, NRO Media Blog readers!