Tom DeLay’s involuntary comeback

July 6, 2006

Former House Majority Leader [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] resigned from Congress and withdrew himself from consideration for re-election, after he had already won a GOP primary, claiming he moved to Virginia and was therefore ineligible. A [tag]lawsuit[/tag] challenged the move, arguing a) DeLay couldn’t take his name of the [tag]ballot[/tag] just because he expected to lose; and b) that DeLay, by matter of [tag]election[/tag] law, has to appear on the ballot.

Today, a federal court agreed.

A federal judge ruled today that Republicans cannot [tag]replace[/tag] former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District race.

U.S. District Judge [tag]Sam Sparks[/tag], a [tag]Republican[/tag] appointee, ruled that [tag]DeLay[/tag] must appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the GOP nominee for the congressional seat that DeLay abandoned last month. Sparks ruling was confirmed by [tag]Texas[/tag] [tag]Democratic[/tag] Party spokeswoman Amber Moon. […]

Sparks ruling halts the process of replacing DeLay on the ballot, but the GOP is expected to appeal the decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

If the Republicans lose on appeal, DeLay will have to decide whether to campaign for an office from which he already has resigned.

Oops. It’s one thing to resign in disgrace; it’s another for a judge to force you to crawl back to voters a few months later and say, “Never mind.”

DeLay hasn’t been raising money or campaigning, of course, because he didn’t think he’d have to. If this ruling stands, DeLay not only have to convince voters to overlook his multiple legal and ethical scandals, he’ll have to ask them to forgive him from resigning and he’ll have to take on a well-funded and well-liked Democrat, former Rep. [tag]Nick Lampson[/tag], who never stopped running for the seat.

It’s the best of all possible scenarios. I was pleased to see DeLay resign in April, but I was disappointed about one thing: I wanted to see him lose, not quit. Now, it may work out well after all.

It couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate person.

Um yeah, but what if he wins? Is he ineligible to represent the TX-22 if he is a legal resident of Virgina? I like to see DeLay put in embarassing situations as punishment for being a wanker but I don’t know if I could manage to deal with him winning back the seat he resigned. What happens if he wins and is ineligible? Does the Governer appoint a replacement (sort of like if he died – not that I wish death upon him, one corrupt Houstonian per week is good for me).

  • See what happen when activist judges are allowed to make rulings against our most bravest of freedom fighters??

    The Republicants hate that judge now. He probably will have a tragic, unexpected heart attack in his vacation home.

  • I’m not sure who gets to pick the replacement, but I’m pretty sure it’s the Texas Republican Party. Before the 2000 elections, the Democratic candidate for the Senate, Mel Carnahan, died in a plane crash a few months before the election. His name remained on the ballot and his opponent, a fellow named John Ashcroft, basically stopped campaigning for about a month, at least that I could tell. (I lived in St. Louis at the time) Anyway, Carnahan got elected (mostly, I think, because people thought it was funny to vote “for the dead guy”) and his wife Jean Carnahan took the seat.

    I’ll poke around and see if I can find any old news reports about the race. The impression that I got at the time was that the party chose the replacement after the election, but they announced beforehand that it would be Jean Carnahan. This was handy because she had the name recognition and also because nobody would be so heartless as to attack the widow of “the dead guy.”

    Tenebras

  • How sweet it is. Thanks for the report, CB.

    Tenbras writes:
    “…nobody would be so heartless as to attack the widow of ‘the dead guy’.” Um, read Ann Coulter and revise that opinion. 🙂

  • Yeah, Frak, remember this was in October 2000. That’s like, before Ann Coulter was born. Or hatched… wherever the hell she came from. 🙂

  • Don’t quote me on this — but in most states, House seats have to be filled by special elections. Governors can only appoint open Senate seats, but don’t ask my why.

  • “but don’t ask my why. ” – EdC

    Because nobody really cares if one of 435 members is missing.

    One of 100, that is sometimes critical. Besides, Senators are supposed to serve for six years and representatives only for two. Representatives are easier to replace (thank God).

    I think the voters of DeLay’s district deserve the right to vote against him, or the disdain of the universe if they don’t.

  • This scenario reminds me of the Night of the Living Dead. What if he wins? It’s not likely but who knows what a bunch of Texas voters might do?

  • I’d like to see him quit like Kenny Boy did. Nothing personal, of course. I don’t mean no disrespeck.

  • Anyway, Carnahan got elected (mostly, I think, because people thought it was funny to vote “for the dead guy”) and his wife Jean Carnahan took the seat. -Tenebras

    I actually think it was because Ashcroft was such an unpalatable fellow they much preferred to be governed by the dead.

  • yes, the governor appoints a senator. nj gov corzine appointed menendez to fill his seat when he took over for mcgreevey.

    curiously, in nj, now sen. lautenberg was appointed by dem party leaders to take incumbent senator bob torricelli’s place on the 2002 ballot just 36 days before the election after torricelli resigned because a bribery scandal (one that really seems petty compared to that of so many republicans today) made it clear he might lose. republicans raised hell, saying that the deadline for such changes had passed 15 days earlier, but the nj supreme court upheld the change and the u.s. supreme court didn’t take up the case. republicans were then doubly furious. i hope someone compares republican reactions to the delay ruling to those of the lautenberg ruling.

  • Not to rain on anyone’s parade — like CB says “couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate person” — but let’s wait till we hear from the Court of Appeals.

  • If memory serves, I seem to recall that DeLay resigned after winning the primary so that he take and utilize the campaign money for his legal defenses (money grabbing always defines this “person”). So, what is the disposition of these campaign funds? Are they returned to the Texas GOP? Are the funds some sort of parting gift to dear lil’ Tommy?

  • I’m wondering if there isn’t some bizarre form of double-jeapordy thing going on here. I mean, a “prominent” Republikanner resigns because of certain specific events. Can he be forced out of office a second time—for the same specific events? this one has all the makings of a soap-opera—and DeLame-Oh has the hairstyle to go with it….

  • Of course the man whose official residence is now Virginia was found at home in the house he still owns in Sugarland, Texas when a reporter knocked on the door. Can you say “Still trying to rig elections.”? I knew you could.

  • By the way, I was proud to vote for the dead guy as opposed to the Christianist guy.

  • Yeah, I voted for the dead guy, too. But on campus (a Jesuit school, by the way) it seemed like most folks were voting for him just because he was dead. It’s fun to vote for the dead. (That way they know you really appreciate them and they’ll give you stock tips from beyond the grave.) There were a lot of folks saying stuff like “Yeah, I’m voting for the dead guy, because I want to see what happens.” Of course, everybody who was mildly informed knew what was going to happen. “But still, it could be, like, totally awesome. Maybe they won’t bury him and put his corpse in the Senate. Wouldn’t that be sweet?” Ad nauseum.

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