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December 05, 2005
Tragedy
Today came the word from Austin that nobody wanted to hear. Sugar Land Congressman Tom DeLay, the at least temporarily dethroned House Majority Leader, will have to stand trial in Austin. Say it ain't so.
This afternoon Judge Pat Priest declined to dismiss all charges against Mr. DeLay, dashing the Congressman's hopes of quickly returning to his House leadership post.
Judge Priest dismissed one conspiracy charge against DeLay, but upheld another conspiracy charge and a count of money laundering. Trial will not begin before early next year, and that's bad news politically for Mr. DeLay.
For one thing, GOP House leadership has expressed a desire to hold permanent new leadership elections after the first of the year, should DeLay's legal troubles remain unresolved. (Missouri Congressman Roy Blount is temporarily serving as Majority Leader.) It is now clear his troubles will not be resolved by then.
Second, these developments leave Mr. DeLay more and more electorally vulnerable, both in his primary and in the general election. DeLay would, at this point, almost certainly win a contested GOP primary over almost any opponent, but he would have a real contest that would force him to raise and spend considerable funds and take incoming fire from his own side.
As for the general election, the 22nd Congressional District is still majority Republican, but former Congressman Nick Lampson, who has attracted significant crossover support in the past, is positioning himself to make a strong challenge next year.
Finally, today's developments are totally independent of the ongoing federal investigations in Washington, which also appear to pose considerable legal and political risk to Mr. DeLay.
It's not shaping up to be the best of holiday seasons for the dear Congressman.
Posted by houtopia at December 5, 2005 06:00 PM