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I don't get it, why would he do such a thing if he did nothing wrong?
How many republican majority leaders have now stepped down in the past 20 years?
Yahoo News
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Rep.
Tom DeLay, the defiant face of a conservative revolution in Congress, stepped down as House majority leader on Saturday under pressure from Republicans staggered by an election-year corruption scandal.
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"During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land," the Texas lawmaker told fellow Republicans in a letter informing them of his decision.
Still, referring to criminal charges he faces in his home state, he added, "I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention."
DeLay temporarily gave up his leadership post after he was charged, but always insisted he would reclaim his duties after clearing his name.
His turnabout cleared the way for leadership elections among Republicans buffeted by poor polls and by lobbyist Jack Abramoff's confessions of guilt on corruption charges in connection with congressional wining and dining.
The race to replace Delay as majority leader began taking shape immediately, with Reps. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the GOP whip, and John Boehner of Ohio, a former member of the leadership, making clear their intentions to run. Rep. Jerry Lewis (news, bio, voting record) of California declined to say whether he would join them.
Speaker
Dennis Hastert, his own grip on power secure, said he expects elections to be held when lawmakers return to the Capitol the week of Jan. 31. That set the stage for several weeks of political maneuvering, and the possibility of a wholesale shuffle in the leadership lineup 10 months before midterm elections.
Democrats, eager to take control of the House in November, reacted to DeLay's announcement with studied indifference.
"The culture of corruption is so pervasive in the Republican conference that a single person stepping down is not nearly enough to clean up the Republican Congress," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) of California, the Democratic leader.
Added Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record) of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic campaign organization: "With the permanence of their special interest philosophy, a change in the Republican cast of characters simply doesn't matter."
Democrats must gain 15 seats in November to win control of the 435-member House.
At a news conference in Texas, DeLay said he had called Hastert, R-Ill., on Saturday to inform him of his decision. "Our success in lowering taxes, creating jobs, growing the economy and providing effective national security was helped by Tom Delay's leadership," the speaker said in a statement.
The 58-year-old DeLay, an exterminator before his election to Congress in 1984, said he intends to seek re-election next fall. "I plan to run a very vigorous campaign and I plan to win it," he told reporters in Texas.
The voters aside, his political future will hinge not only on the outcome of the Texas allegations, but on the future of the Abramoff investigation.
Michael Scanlon, a former DeLay aide and an Abramoff business partner, pleaded guilty in the fall to corruption charges. In court papers, the lobbyist said he had once paid $50,000 to the wife of another former DeLay aide to help kill legislation opposed by his clients.
DeLay has been a fixture in the Republican leadership since the GOP won its majority in the 1994 election landslide.
An outsider at first, he muscled his way up the hierarchy when he won election as whip over the hand-picked choice of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
When Gingrich nearly fell in a coup more than three years later, DeLay went before fellow Republicans at a private meeting and emotionally confessed his role in the plotting. He prospered politically, moving up to become majority leader, the No. 2 post, in 1999.
Contrition was never a quality he displayed to his adversaries — Democrats, outside interest groups and others who sought to check the advance of the conservative GOP agenda he promoted.
DeLay raised millions of dollars for the campaigns of fellow House Republicans, conservatives and moderates alike, earning their gra ude regardless of their ideology. He courted controversy almost reflexively, including his involvement in an attempt to force corporations and industry groups to hire more Republican lobbyists.
He rarely backed down.
DeLay was the driving force behind
President Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.
DeLay's downfall began at home in Texas, when he led a drive to redraw the state's congressional district boundaries and increase the number of GOP seats in the U.S. House. He succeeded, but was soon ensnared in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of Texas legislators who had participated in the redistricting.
Flashing his trademark defiance, DeLay attacked prosecutor Ronnie Earle as an "unabashed partisan zealot." He pledged repeatedly to clear his name and said he would reclaim his duties as majority leader by the end of January.
The scandal spawned by Abramoff intervened, though.
Within two days of the lobbyist's appearances in federal court last week, GOP lawmakers began circulating pe ions calling for elections. Hastert immediately made clear he would not stand in the way.
`After the Abramoff thing we got critical mass," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who long had advocated new leadership.
While Flake is a conservative in a safe congressional district, others suddenly calling for change were more moderate Republicans who could face difficult re-election campaigns this fall.
New Mexico's Heather Wilson was among them.
She said three of DeLay's "former senior staff members have admitted or have been implicated in corrupt and illegal activities to get money for themselves by influencing legislation. Whether or not Mr. DeLay was involved himself or knew this was going on, he is responsible for his office."
I don't get it, why would he do such a thing if he did nothing wrong?
How many republican majority leaders have now stepped down in the past 20 years?
i think general consensus on this board even amoung conservaties is that he's guilty
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31237
It's amazing, how many GOP leaders have stepped down in the last 20 years...all the time, the GOP increasing its dominance.
Mebbe if Clinton stepped down when he was impeached...the GOP might not have taken over under his reign?
Thank God no Democrat is that willing
I don't know what it is but Tom Delay always seemed to be honestly crooked to me.
There were quite a few republicans demanding that he step down.
Good move.
You gonna ask Reid to step down?
If he took an actual bribe, yes.
Why, he said he didn't know Abramoff. Just accepted money from
some PAC's that may have been involved with Abramoff. Pure as
the driven snow, he is.
Besides, DeLay hasn't been convicted of anything yet. If he is, I will
be the first to say good riddance. Shame you dimm-o-craps wont do
the same.
Knowing Abramoff isn't a crime. Neither is taking PAC money alone.Why, he said he didn't know Abramoff. Just accepted money from
some PAC's that may have been involved with Abramoff. Pure as
the driven snow, he is.No, I'll say good ridance before you.Besides, DeLay hasn't been convicted of anything yet. If he is, I will
be the first to say good riddance. Shame you dimm-o-craps wont do
the same.
Why avoid the issue? It is Tom Delay under indictment...not Reid.
My point was that even high ranking republicans wanted him to step down.
Simple as that. Are you denying that by pointing the finger at someone else?
If Reid is indicted then yes, I would ask him to step down.
Shame on the republicans who won't do the same too.
If he's indicted? You bet your ass.
You Repugs seem confused. It's not a crime to take money from this jerk or his PAC. The crime is to provide services for said money. Since the Dems aren't in power now, it's not likely they they could do so, even if they wanted to.
The Repugs, including dubya, turning over their Abramoff contributions to charity is self-indicting, not self-absolving.
Texas Republicans suffer 'huge loss'
Web Posted: 01/08/2006 12:00 AM CST
Gary Martin
Express-News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom DeLay's decision Saturday to abandon his bid to remain House majority leader struck a blow to President Bush and Texas Republicans who have flourished under the besieged leader's wings.
Tom DeLay Chronology
Some key events and controversies in the career of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas:
April 2005: House Republicans scrap controversial new ethics committee rules passed earlier in the year that would have made it harder to proceed with an ethics investigation. Democrats charged the rules were meant to protect DeLay.
( ... proof that Repugs were protecting their totally corrupt leader. )
DeLay, who faces money-laundering charges in Texas, announced his decision to avoid an intra-party fight for his former seat as majority leader.
The decision is a setback to Texas Republicans, who united behind DeLay and his leadership, which helped many to ascend the party ladder and attain positions of power within the House of Representatives.
"From the standpoint of Texas, to have the House majority leader resign is certainly a huge loss to the Texas delegation," said Earl Black, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston.
Texans, including President Bush, have fared well because of DeLay's power.
The fall is historic, but certainly not unique. Democrats prospered under Speaker Jim Wright, D-Fort Worth, who was forced to step down in 1989 under an ethics cloud.
( (Texas) politicians are all corrupt)
And like Democratic lawmakers decades ago, GOP members from the Lone Star State moved up in the party hierarchy under DeLay's guiding hand.
San Antonio alone has seen Rep. Lamar Smith rise within the party and poised to take the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.
And Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, jumped above more senior members to become a subcommittee chairman on the House Appropriations Committee.
Both have held fundraisers to help DeLay fight the charges brought in Texas by Travis County District Attorney Ron Earle.
But ethics scandals in Washington surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has strong ties to DeLay, created a climate of concern for Republicans trying to hold their majority in the House and Senate.
DeLay's departure hurts the state delegation, but the fallout is more reaching.
"I don't think it is as much of a hit for Texas as it is for the Republican Party," David Crockett, a Trinity University political scientist in San Antonio, said of the DeLay decision.
Republican lawmakers circulated a pe ion this weekend calling for leadership elections after Abramoff pleaded guilty to felony charges in Washington and Florida, and announced he would cooperate with federal probes into allegations of corruption in Congress.
"Cleaning up the pervasive culture of corruption in Washington requires more than shuffling the Republican leadership," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. "It requires cleaning the House."
Republicans sought to cast the DeLay announcement as a positive development.
()
"Today's decision, although difficult, continues Tom DeLay's commitment to put his nation, his cons uents, his colleagues and his party first," said Ken Mehlman, Republican National Committee chairman.
For Texans, the decision by DeLay to forego a leadership battle leaves the state without a strong man in the House to arm-twist legislation favorable to Lone Star interests.
That same characteristic served Bush well when DeLay won critical votes on the Central American Free Trade Agreement and other contentious issues.
DeLay is running for re-election in his Houston-suburb congressional district, while fighting charges in Austin that he schemed to move corporate money illegally from Washington to state legislative candidates, in violation of Texas election law.
He is adamant about his innocence, and faces trial this spring.
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the GOP whip, has handled the majority leader duties since DeLay was indicted in Texas.
Nonetheless, DeLay's drag on Republican lawmakers facing re-election, in the atmosphere of the Abramoff scandal, is forcing Republicans to push the former majority leader aside, experts said.
"It's just another example of hardball politics," Black said.
Republicans have an eye on November, said Crockett, and the swirl of ethical taint around DeLay is unacceptable to GOP lawmakers facing re-election battles.
"Members of Congress want to get elected, and they will only go so far," Crockett said.
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Repugs trying to distance themselves from Delay's toxic, corrupt Repuglicanism is equal to Ken Lay saying he knew nothing about his totally corrupt Enron. Play with pigs, you get dirty.
Last edited by boutons_; 01-08-2006 at 02:05 PM.
Big ing deal... we just appoint another Republican.
You ers better be working that 06 election.. and not just relying on your Bussing of igonorant people to polls..
I think your gonna get taken to the woodshed in 06 anyway you gutless punks.
Oh Yeah Well Bill Clinton Got A Blowjob From A Fat Girl
Well thanks to idiots like yourself we've all been getting screwed in the ass the past 5 years you blind following dip .
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely"
reps represent big business...of course they are more likely to be influenced negativley by these lobyists
Delay kicked in the teeth again.
===================
Texas Court Won't Dismiss DeLay Charges
By LIZ AUSTIN
The Associated Press
Monday, January 9, 2006; 12:43 PM
AUSTIN, Texas -- The state's highest criminal court on Monday denied Rep. Tom DeLay's request that the money laundering charges against him be dismissed or sent back to a lower court for an immediate trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the requests with no written order two days after he announced he was stepping down as House majority leader. DeLay had been forced to temporarily relinquish the Republican leadership post after he was indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges in September.
DeLay, who denies wrongdoing, had been trying to rush to trial in Texas in hopes of clearing his name and regaining the position.
The House is expected to hold leadership elections when lawmakers return to the Capitol the week of Jan. 31.
DeLay's attorney, DeGuerin, said they will continue to push for a quick trial because DeLay faces opposition in the March Republican primary.
"We'd like to get it over with before then, but it's not as crucial as it would have been if he were still in the running for his leadership post," DeGuerin said.
( no need to rush now, Tom, just bend over and take it like man )
A spokesman for Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle had no immediate comment.
The trial court judge in December dismissed a conspiracy charge against DeLay but refused to throw out more serious allegations of money laundering. Prosecutors appealed that decision, and the judge decided not to proceed with the case until the appeal is resolved. It is still being considered by the 3rd Court of Appeals.
Prosecutors allege DeLay and two co-conspirators funneled $190,000 in corporate contributions through the Texas political committee and an arm of the National Republican Committee to seven GOP state legislative candidates.
They accuse DeLay and his two associates of trying to cir vent Texas' law prohibiting spending corporate money on campaigns, except for administrative expenses.
After DeLay withdrawal permanently from the majority leader job, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio announced Sunday he is seeking the post. Republican Whip Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the acting majority leader, campaigned for the job as well.
© 2006 The Associated Press
Just keep remembering those damn hanging chads. And don't forget all the junk
that went on in Ohio. Just got to do something about the Repubs. They keep
kicking our butts at the polls.
I hope this crook does real time and not some Club Fed. Then he'll be getting hammered if you know what I mean.
No what do you mean?
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