[Mb-civic] Tide Turning Against DeLay - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Tide Turning Against DeLay
Some House Republicans Push for Leadership Elections

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 7, 2006; A04

Rank-and-file House Republicans took the first formal step toward 
permanently replacing Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.) in the House's leadership by 
unveiling a petition to hold a special leadership election in the coming 
weeks.

The petition -- drafted by moderate Reps. Charles Bass (N.H.) and 
Christopher Shays (Conn.) and conservative Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) with 
the support of as many as two dozen members -- is the latest blow to 
DeLay, who was forced to relinquish his post as majority leader in 
September after he was indicted in Texas on campaign finance charges. 
DeLay had hoped that case would be resolved in his favor by the end of 
January, clearing the way for his return. Instead, it has dragged on 
through a series of pretrial maneuvers.

Then this week, lobbyist and DeLay ally Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to 
charges of public corruption and conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with 
federal investigators in what promises to be one of the largest federal 
bribery scandals in decades. Abramoff's guilty plea includes multiple 
references to the actions of Tony C. Rudy -- while he was DeLay's deputy 
chief of staff -- on Abramoff's behalf.

DeLay has repeatedly asserted that the charges in Texas are a 
politically inspired vendetta by a Democratic prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, 
and that he has nothing to fear from the Abramoff probe, with which he 
says he has cooperated fully.

In recent days, however, prominent Republicans have begun counseling 
DeLay that he should renounce claims to the majority leader's post, for 
the good of the party and for the good of his long-term political 
career, leadership aides and DeLay allies said this week.

"People are worried about the other shoe waiting to drop," Flake said 
yesterday. "Fairly or not," he said, DeLay has "become the public face 
of a culture gone bad in Washington."

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.) yesterday did not try to tamp 
down the movement toward an election. Since DeLay's late-September 
indictments, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) has also served as 
temporary majority leader, but Hastert promised that this arrangement 
would not go on indefinitely. The leadership structure was supposed to 
be restored with DeLay's return, not an election.

That is now shifting.

"This is consistent with what the speaker has said, that this would only 
be a temporary structure and that it would be revisited at the beginning 
of the year," Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said of the election petition.

Under House Republican Conference rules, the signatures of 50 members 
would force the convening of a special election conclave. A majority of 
those present would then have to move for an election.

Since last month, Blunt has planned to ask House Republicans to elect 
him to DeLay's majority leader post permanently, if, as is now almost 
certain, DeLay cannot clear his name in the campaign finance and 
corruption probes by early February, a House leadership member said. The 
new petition will probably mean a leadership election will be called 
well before then, perhaps in a few days, Flake said.

"Jack Abramoff's guilty plea and his close association with Tom DeLay 
underscore the need for a new majority leader in the Republican Party," 
Shays said in a statement yesterday. "It is time we make it clear that 
ethics are an essential part of how we do business and our leadership 
needs to reflect this strong ethical conduct."

DeLay remains defiant, refusing to grant what he sees as a victory to 
Earle, the Travis County prosecutor.

"Mr. DeLay appreciates that a majority of his colleagues recognize he 
remains committed to fulfilling his responsibilities as majority leader 
as soon as he's exonerated in Texas and won't give in to what is 
essentially character assassination by insinuation," DeLay spokesman 
Kevin Madden said.

But privately, even DeLay aides and supporters acknowledge that time is 
running out on a comeback. Nearly half a dozen members have called for 
an election, including Shays, Flake, Bass, and Reps. Ray LaHood (Ill.) 
and John Kline (Minn.). As many as 30 members are ready to sign the 
election petition now, said a lobbyist close to DeLay, who spoke on the 
condition of anonymity.

And momentum is building. Flake said he doubts 50 will have to come 
forward. As early as this weekend, DeLay will renounce his claims to his 
old post, and leaders will call for an election, Flake said.

That could set off a leadership scramble, as Republicans seek to 
assemble a new team that can better weather the storms developing around 
the Abramoff scandal and the recent bribery guilty plea and resignation 
of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (Calif.). Blunt is expected to be 
challenged by Rep. John A. Boehner (Ohio), but other candidates are 
likely to emerge.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010601763.html?nav=hcmodule
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