The Trial of Tom DeLay

"I'm like a cemetery ?- I'll take anything!"

That was the exhortation from U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, Sugar Land Republican and certified auctioneer, as he squeezed $16,600 from the crowd during a live auction at a Harris County Republican Party dinner last week.

DeLay knew the name of just about every bidder and used rapid-fire, joke-laced persistence to prompt high offers from the crowd. The hubbub even spurred Houston bootmaker Rocky Carroll to chip in five more pairs of handmade boots than he originally had pledged to the auction.

There is no question that DeLay is an able auctioneer, but the bids aren't all in on whether he has sold himself well enough across the 22nd Congressional District to walk off a winner in Tuesday's Republican primary.

"I feel very good," DeLay said at a Galveston County GOP dinner in League City on Thursday. "We've done all we needed to do. We ran a very good, positive campaign."

The 22-year incumbent is favored over three challengers ?- former schoolteacher Pat Baig, lawyer Tom Campbell and lawyer Mike Fjetland, who have spent the past several weeks crisscrossing the four-county district to find and firm up support.

In a hint of the challenge they face in battling DeLay, the opening prayer from local GOP stalwart Kris Anne Vogelpohl at the League City dinner included these lines: "Especially we pray for Tom DeLay and his family. Please be with him."

Tuesday's primary is a critical juncture for DeLay, for whom the past five months has been a spiral of negative news stemming from legal troubles in Travis County and the bribery investigation of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former DeLay ally.

The Travis County indictment, a money-laundering charge stemming from alleged campaign finance violations during the 2002 Texas House races, forced DeLay to give up his powerful position as House majority leader. The post had afforded him almost unbeatable clout on Capitol Hill.

He blames the indictment on what he calls a political vendetta by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.


'Retail-oriented campaign'
Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, who has contributed to DeLay in the past, said the race is hard to handicap.

"It is pretty well realized down here that he has strong support and strong opposition," Lanier said.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, the top two finishers will meet in an April runoff.

It's unlikely that DeLay will face that situation, said Bob Stein, dean of social sciences at Rice University.

"We know he has done a very retail-oriented campaign, going right to individual voters and surgically finding those who will vote and vote for him," Stein said. "His message is directed at reminding voters what he has done for them."

DeLay's opponents are dividing the anti-DeLay vote and "diluting any chance of defeating him," Stein said.


Few primary opponents
Since he was elected in 1984, DeLay seldom has faced GOP primary opposition, and he hasn't received less than 80 percent of the vote in a primary. He won re-election in 2004 with 55 percent of the general election vote.

If DeLay prevails on Tuesday, his Democratic opponent in November will be former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, who has raised more than $1.8 million since announcing his candidacy in May. He is unopposed in his party's primary.

Former one-term GOP U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman has filed as an independent. A Libertarian candidate to be nominated at a convention in June also will be on the November ballot.

DeLay raised more than $3.2 million ?- and spent more than $2 million, about 20 percent on direct mail and telemarketing alone ?- between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 15, 2006.

Recent campaign finance filings indicate that he took in nearly $137,000 more since then.


Fundraiser scheduled
He'll rake in even more on primary night, when he is scheduled to attend a Washington fundraiser in his honor, hosted by former Republican Reps. Bill Paxon and Susan Molinari of New York.

Lampson campaign manager Mike Malaise derided DeLay's planned Election Night absence from his district as a "brazen show of arrogance."

Meanwhile, DeLay's Republican opponents kept up their crunch-time campaigning as Tuesday's vote loomed.

On Thursday, Campbell made a late afternoon stop at the Kemah boardwalk amusement area, which is just over the 22nd district line in Galveston County but draws residents of the district.

He talked to each of the 20 or so people who crossed his path, including Clear Lake residents Teresa and Michael French, long-distance drivers for country music bands.

The couple are unsure whom they will support on Tuesday, but Michael French, 51, said he believes that "to be a congressman for 20 or 30 years is ridiculous. You get to where you don't care about what the people want, just politics."

Richard Koons, 44, a League City resident who voted for DeLay in the last election but will not this time around, called the incumbent "true blue," but said that the Travis County charges have neutralized him. "He is ineffective right now," Koons said.

Campbell was gratified to hear voters talk about the need for change.

"Every once in a while, you have to sweep the floor," he said. "It gets dirty. If Republicans don't do it ourselves, the Democrats will sweep us out of office."

Early on Friday morning, as the breakfast crowd surged at Bob's Taco Station in Rosenberg, Fjetland deemed the Richmond-Rosenberg area "my side of the district" because he said it is heavily Republican but anti-DeLay.

"A lot of Republicans have told me that they were thankful to have a choice on the ballot," said Fjetland, who contends DeLay has failed the district by opposing transit projects and offering inconsistent support to the Johnson Space Center.

This is Fjetland's fourth run against DeLay.

After polishing off a meal at the quirky community social hub, Bill Butler, a real estate developer in Rosenberg and a self-described independent, said the region "is still a Republican area, but you will find a weakness over here" in support for DeLay and the current GOP leadership team.


Individual votes
One reason for that, said Taco Station owner Jose Alanis, is that DeLay is "for Sugar Land people, and we are working-class people. He comes here just to make a show."

On Saturday, Baig journeyed to parts of Missouri City, which she said politicians often overlook.

Those areas lean more Democratic, but Baig said that's no reason to write them off.

"Tell them how you will represent them and they will vote for you," she said.

Baig said she has picked up individual votes that she says are indicative of farther-reaching support.

Before heading to Rosenberg to talk to residents milling around an outdoor fair at the railroad museum there, Baig drove through an area of Stafford that she said is known as a haven for illegal immigrants.

"What do people not understand about 'illegal'? " said Baig, who wants to see the border patrol beefed up and employers penalized for knowingly hiring illegal workers.


'That ticked me off'
Officials in the DeLay camp said they have encouraged their backers to make a more open show of support.

To that end, Commonwealth resident Bonnie Lugosch dropped by DeLay campaign headquarters last week to pick up her first-ever political yard signs.

She has never considered herself hyperpolitical, but "this one really got to me," she said. "Tom DeLay has done so much for the people of Sugar Land."

"Republicans are running away from him," Lugosch said."That ticked me off. If there is the faintest hint of some kind of scandal, they want to distance themselves. We cannot just have a conciliatory person in Washington."

BBB
When will politicians every learn that when you are trying to defeat an incumbent, you want one alternative, not three to split the opposition vote? It's hard to agree on only one candidate, but it must be done to have any chance of unseating the incumbent.

BBB

I agree, BBB. The truth isn't enough. You've got to have a honed in opposition to be effective.

Edgar


Knowing DeLay's tactics, I wouldn't be surprised to learn someday that DeLay paid off one or two of the opposition candidates to run against him to split the opposition vote.

BBB

His TV ads attack one of his Republican primary opponents as espousing liberal ideas, a typical charge when ultra right wingers run against anybody at all.

In another ad, he is running against a wall of liberal faces, such as Ted Kennedy- -about a dozen in all.

No issues enter into it that I have seen, from any quarter.

When does the actual trial begin?

Rhetorical question but feel free to answer.. Just a BM.

I wish I knew.

http://www.tomdelay.com/
Here is DeLay's personal web page.

Whoa! My monitor almost imploaded just from the suckage of the url.....

DeLay won the primary handily. To me it shows that Republicans may talk principles and truth, but they support sleaze and criminality (so long as it's done by one of their own and not a Democrat).

hi edgar.. i don't know if it's just a republican thing or not. delay is such a heavy in the midland/sugarland yeehaw mafia that i didn't really think he'd get tossed aside. probably knows where every body has been buried for close to 30 years. same with rove.

but yeah, on this and other issues like the patriot act and the wiretaps, the republicans are still just laying down for the party.

DeLay's victory is good news for the Dems nationally. He's a great face of the Republicans, worthy of attack for umpteen reasons...

And here's where Dems will go wrong once again...expending lots of money and verbal rhetoric attacking a strong Republican in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to draw a few meager votes out of a perpetual GOP stronghold.

Delay will still win and the diversion will be a boon for weaker Republican candidates.

We have a guy just as screwed up as Bush running for state senate. Dan Patrick. Hope he doesn't become president in ten years.

slkshock


The Republicans have used their power to complete their redistricting plans to protect republican incumbents. It's the redistricting that will change difficult to achieve. It will take intervention of the courts to undo the unconstitutional redistricting actions under the equal protection clause.

BBB

March 19, 2006, 10:38PM
Investigation has DeLay stuck in legal limbo
Probe into Abramoff's ties may last through November vote


By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom DeLay, who emerged victorious from the Republican primary and hoped to dispose quickly of ethics controversies, remains in a legal limbo that could keep him under a cloud through the November election, according to lawyers involved in the Washington and Texas ethics cases.

The investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff's bilking of Indian gaming clients has not directly implicated DeLay. But it has led federal authorities to examine the actions of lawmakers and staffers with whom Abramoff worked, and DeLay is likely to be linked to the probe for the foreseeable future because of his previous close association with Abramoff.

Former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon, who was an Abramoff business partner, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the case, and a former DeLay deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, remains under intense scrutiny by prosecutors. Either one's cooperation with federal investigators could lead investigators to more information about DeLay, a Republican from Sugar Land.

Justice Department officials have declined to comment on DeLay's status in the wide-ranging probe into whether Abramoff or his associates got favors in return for contributing money to lawmakers' campaigns and arranging foreign trips for the lawmakers.

"The Justice Department has not approached us for any information or cooperation," said Richard Cullen, DeLay's attorney in the Abramoff corruption investigation. He said there is no reason to think DeLay is in legal jeopardy.

"Not even Tom DeLay's most fierce political enemies have alleged he has done anything criminal (in connection to the Washington investigation)," Cullen said. "It makes me wonder why the Chronicle feels compelled to write a story like this when there is no allegation he has done anything a prosecutor would be interested in."

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, did essentially make such an allegation in January, saying in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., that Democrats expect the House ethics committee to look into the "alleged violations of criminal laws and the rules of the House" by DeLay and three other Republican lawmakers with ties to Abramoff. DeLay took trips to Russia and Britain that were indirectly funded by Abramoff and have drawn the attention of investigators to see if they involved funding that might have been improper.

Abramoff recently told Vanity Fair magazine that he didn't extensively lobby DeLay, partly because they already were in tune as conservatives.

Cullen has said the article supports the contention that there was no trade-off of legislative favors involved in their trips or their other dealings.


'A ticking time bomb'
But DeLay can't rest easy until it becomes clear what Abramoff has told prosecutors about their relationship during extensive debriefing sessions before and since his guilty plea in January.

"People expect further indictments before November, which may very well be at a lower level," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington group that monitors money in elections. "Then prosecutors will see how high they can take it. This is a ticking time bomb and no one knows when it will go off or how far it will detonate."

Lawyers involved in the case, speaking on the condition that they not be identified, confirmed the assertion that the investigation could easily still be in progress in early November, when the general election for DeLay's 22nd Congressional District seat takes place.

DeLay will face Democratic challenger and former Congressman Nick Lampson and a yet-to-be-named Libertarian candidate. Steve Stockman, a former Republican congressman, is seeking a place on the ballot as an independent.

Rudy, the former DeLay aide, adds another dimension to the investigation of DeLay in Washington.

Documents released by federal prosecutors made it clear that Rudy has been in significant legal jeopardy. He is believed to be cooperating with federal officials, and sources close to the case said he is expected to reach a plea deal with the Justice Department. But details of those negotiations have not surfaced.

The details could be of critical importance to DeLay.

The prosecutors' documents depicted an unnamed congressional aide, separately identified as Rudy, improperly influencing congressional action on behalf of Abramoff's Indian gaming clients. But there was no indication that DeLay was aware of Rudy's activities.


Rudy's statements are key
What Rudy has said or will say to prosecutors about DeLay could prove pivotal in whether the lawmaker is cleared or gets pulled more directly into the federal investigation, said lawyers close to the case.

In court documents released in January, Rudy was described as "Staffer A," who helped Abramoff stop legislation that would have hurt his clients. One bill opposed by Indian gaming interests would have banned Internet gambling; another, opposed by magazine publishers, would have raised postal rates.

In return, Abramoff funneled $50,000 to the political consulting firm of Rudy's wife, Lisa, prosecutors said in court documents. The money was "obtained from (Abramoff's) clients who would and did benefit from Staffer A's official actions," the prosecutors said. Rudy then left Congress to work directly for Abramoff.

Cullen said DeLay had no knowledge of any work by Rudy on behalf of Abramoff's clients.

DeLay also must contend with criminal charges in Texas.

Next week, an appellate court in Travis County will hear District Attorney Ronnie Earle's argument to reinstate conspiracy charges against DeLay. The issue must be resolved before the lawmaker can be tried on pending charges of money laundering brought by Earle after an investigation of DeLay's Texas fundraising.

There are several legal moves remaining for both sides before DeLay's Texas lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, can achieve his goal of getting the charges into court.

A key tactic by DeLay's legal team is an effort to have the case moved from Travis County, a Democratic stronghold, to a venue more politically sympathetic to DeLay, like his home base of Fort Bend County. That request would be considered by a judge just before a trial commenced.

Given the pretrial snarls and likely appeals, a trial date in late July or early August appears most likely, DeGuerin said.

"Generally speaking, Mr. DeLay has put all his confidence in the legal system that these charges will be resolved in a timely fashion," DeGuerin said.

You're right ... Republicans love nothiing better than a crook!

Anon

Re: slkshock


That's been done at rhe Supreme Court this year I think ... if I remember right ... it was fine with them.

Anon

The court heard arguments on the Texas redistricting. The ruling hasn't been made yet. June is the projected date for the ruling in the Boston Globe story on it.

Ooopps, Thanks P.

Anon