DeLay Loses Appeal To Get Off Ballot
Ex-Rep. Tom DeLay remains on the TX-22 ballot.
A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's ruling that the state GOP had no grounds to remove DeLay from the ballot.
Judge Sam Sparks ruled in July that, at the time DeLay was taken off the candidate slate, there was no firm evidence he had moved to Virginia and no conclusive evidence that he intended to live in VA on Election Day. Justice Edith Clement, a Bush SCOTUS finalist, voted today with two Democrat appointees to endorse Sparks's decision
Former Rep. Nick Lampson is the Democratic nominee.
The Texas GOP said it would appeal today's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here's their reasoning:
Texas law requires candidates, when they file for office, to swear that they will be eligible to serve on election day. If a candidate does something completely incomparable with that promise, such as moving to another state and voting in that state's elections, as Tom DeLay has, then Texas law permits the Chairman of that political party to declare the candidate to be ineligible and, thereby, to require the candidate to reaffirm his eligibility, by stating that he intends to return to Texas by election day, if he intends to do so.
TX GOP attorneyJames Bopp: "The fundamental error of the federal court is that it ignored the fact that the Texas statute only shift the burden to the candidate to reaffirm his eligibility and thus is not a conclusive bar to his candidacy. Tom DeLay, of course, does not intend to return to Texas. He testified that he intends to live in Virginia indefinitely." More Bopp: "Further, the court held that the Texas Democrat Party could seek to control who is the nominee of the Republican Party. This is completely incomparable with a viable two party system."
Our TV editor, Emily Goodin, reminds us of what DeLay said last night on Hannity and Colmes:
Tom DeLay: "The courts look like they want to keep me on the ballot. The Democrats don't want to give our people a choice. And if I'm forced to be on the ballot, I'm going to be on the ballot."
And DCCC spokesperson Bill Burton chimes in: "One way or another, Tom DeLay is going to be serving a two year term. But it's not going to be in Congress."
If President Bush campaigns for him, do you think it would hurt or help?
I hope Lampson stays on message and only cites facts (of which there are many)demonstrating that DeLay is a dirtbag.
Good for ole Tommy "DeLayed Reaction." I'm glad to see he'll have to duke it out with all those disenfranchised, disillusioned Texans, the very same ones he's been raping since his slimy tactics helped to change what was once a democracy into a totalitarian form of government. That this buffoon refers to a "Choice" is hysterical. Choice wasn't something worthy of consideration when he gerrymandered the state into such a protracted miasma so as to grab power in a manner that was an appallingly grotesque breach of the American principle of the electoral process. Democracy? Who needs it? Right Tommy? Jerk.
VA was wise to keep this sleaze ball away from THEIR state. Why isn't Tommy in jail anyway?
Now i'm curious to see what the voters do. How many people are going to vote for a sleeze like this guy? I expect its more than most people would like to think.
Hey all Delay has to do to defeat the carpetbagger Lampson is to say that if elected he will allow the governor to appoint his replacement.
Texans aren't going to elect a Democrat no matter what -- count on it.
Sadly it will still be a tough race for Lampson. Republicans wear corruption on their sleeves like a badge of honor. It's something that all Republicans can relate to. Many Conservatives will look at Delay and say "See, he's just like me. Someone I can have a beer with."
Y'all can say whatever you want, but it will be a good thing for America when Delay wins. He is a real patriot and all you liberals trying to smear him with false accusations are going to be sorry when he redistricts the entire state to kick you all out.
Has Delay been convicted of any crime? What is he being charged with? and if he doesn't want to run, why is he on the ballot? It makes no sense
deLay is a criminal, i guess thats why the neocon nazi's love him
It is going to play out in his home district, no matter what WE think, or write here. I spent a few years in Houston and traveled to Sugarland on business some dozen or so times, finding that the people I had to deal with were mostly reasonable folks.
I think that they will well coinsider their own best interests in this matter and do WHAT THEY THINK IS BEST at the ballot box,(hopefully NOT at the electronic voting machine!)
If you hate Tom Delay that much - then move to his district and vote against him! That seems pretty easy to me.
The true sleeze is Ronnie Earl who has mis-used his authority in manufacturing a case against Tom DeLay that took "Grand Jury Shopping" to find one to indict him for. Republican's and DeLay will get the last laugh when he wins his seat back into Congress.
The voters who will cast their ballot for DeLay in November are the same type of greedy voters who supported numero uno dirtbag, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now known by his prison ID #01164598.
Somewhere, the ghost of Mel Carnahan is smiling.
Keep in mind that DeLay made great media coverage of 'winning' the TX-22 primary. But, in reality, only 6-7% of the Repugs in the district participated in that election. That's really, really, loooowww numbers even for a primary which does not traditionally attract many voters - in any state. He's goin' down, folks!
"Good for" wrote that Delay "is a real patriot", and unfortunately what I see here in TN is the same "simple think" approach to the world. It is easy to see why Carl Rove figured out that you could crank up these shallow thinkers by throwing them one of the "3G's" (guns, gays, god). What I think is the crime of the century is allowing these sheep to hijack the term "Conservative". There is nothing conservative about their views. Like Delay, they are the equivalent of an American Taliban, while at the same time, like Delay they have raised corruption to a whole new level.
Unfortunately, DeLay is not like "you and me, someone you can have a beer with" as one observer noted. DeLay gave up alcoholic beverages when he followed in the footsteps of his party affiliate, Duke Cunningham, and became a born again Christian. Kind of gives religion a bad odor!
The problem really isn't Delay, Bush, or VP Dick....the problem is the gullability of 60,000,000 voters
The man is a bug exterminator. Nothing against bug exterminators bot this one is a sleaseball. He could have stayed out of the primary but his ego would not let him. The repuglicans picked him to be thier man so they are stuck with him. I'd like to see them all strung up on the White House lawn.
"deLay is a criminal, i guess thats why the neocon nazi's love him"
You lose the thread!
I think you get a sense of the quality of Republican reasoning by the fact that they write, "If a candidate does something completely incomparable with that promise"
Um, I think they meant "incompatible," but since when has DeLay been a stickler for any social norm?
DeLay is totally the victim here, skipping through the fields with a basket of posies, while the evil Dimmycrats try to punish him for the perfectly understandable tactic of using himself as a placeholder so the Republicans could skirt election rules and wouldn't have to make a decision til the last minute. As a Republican just said to me, there's no proof he's a criminal---there's no proof that anything outside my line of vision even exists!
I can only think of one seat I want Delay in and it is in a basement in Huntsville. And for everyone watching that was a joke.
Why not let the Republican voters of Texas decide their nominee? Oh, wait... they already did. They chose Tom DeLay, then he took all the campaign contributions to use for his criminal defense. Real class act, there.