[Mb-civic] Capitol Hill's DeLay Era Ends -- or at Least Stalls - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Capitol Hill's DeLay Era Ends -- or at Least Stalls
Texan Who Stabilized GOP Power After '94 Takeover Is Seen as Strongest 
Majority Leader in Years

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 29, 2005; Page A07

The indictment yesterday of Tom DeLay ended -- at least for now -- the 
reign of the most powerful leader the House of Representatives has seen 
in decades.

Love him or hate him -- and pretty much everybody did one or the other 
-- DeLay was the man who, more than Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey or Denny 
Hastert, consolidated the gains of the Republican Revolution of 1994 and 
institutionalized an enduring Republican majority in the Congress.

DeLay never became speaker himself -- and his indictment yesterday in 
Texas makes it increasingly unlikely that he will reach his goal of 
succeeding Hastert -- but in practice he ran the legislative agenda on 
Capitol Hill for the better part of a decade.

In opposition during the Clinton administration, he was a pivotal figure 
in the "Contract With America," and high-profile battles over health 
care, budgets and impeachment. During the Bush administration, he was 
responsible for the lockstep discipline in the House that passed 
President Bush's agenda and forced action in a wobbly Senate.

"Tom DeLay is an historically giant figure in the ascendancy to power of 
the Republican Party for the last quarter of the 20th century and into 
the 21st century," said former Republican congressman Bill Paxon, now a 
lobbyist. "If you look back at virtually everything we've accomplished, 
he's been vital to that success."

Democrats grudgingly agree. "He's easily the most powerful Republican on 
Capitol Hill, and nobody's in his weight class," said Democratic 
strategist Jim Jordan. "He exerts the kind of discipline that hasn't 
been seen in decades."

Indicted by a Democratic district attorney in Texas, DeLay said 
yesterday that he is the victim of "blatant political partisanship" -- a 
complaint that echoed the protests of Bill Clinton and other DeLay foes 
when their ethical lapses were turned into major scandal by DeLay's 
personal, bare-knuckled brand of politics.

"This is an old story that keeps repeating: The people who are way out 
there and pushing the limits of power, they eventually are pushed out 
themselves," said James A. Thurber, a political science professor at 
American University. "Jim Wright and Newt Gingrich did that, and they 
went. Now Tom DeLay. It was just a matter of time."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/28/AR2005092802286.html?nav=hcmodule
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