September 19, 2013
Updated: September 19, 2013 11:30am
...DeLay, 66, (click here) a conservative Republican from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, ran an exterminating business before being elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1978 and winning a seat in Congress in 1984. He rose rapidly through the House leadership and was elected majority leader in 2002. DeLay earned the nickname "the Hammer" for his fierce political tactics.
In 2005, a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges that he had conspired to violate campaign finance laws. DeLay reportedly sought donations to his political action committee from Enron and other corporations to help bankroll the redistricting of Texas to favor the election of more Republicans. DeLay denied the charges but resigned as majority leader.
The executive director of Texans for Public Justice, the group that filed the complaint that led to DeLay's indictment, suggested that the Republican judges who issued Thursday's ruling were influenced by politics.
"He (DeLay) was wrong on the law and wrong on the facts, but politics bailed him out," said TPJ's Craig McDonald. He said he hoped that the Travis County district attorney's office would appeal the ruling to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Two co-defendants in the case pleaded guilty and paid fines. John Colyandro, who ran Texans for a Republican Majority, pleaded guilty in 2012 to a misdemeanor charge of accepting illegal political contributions and received deferred adjudication, which means there will be no final conviction if he completes probation. He also was fined $8,000.
Jim Ellis, a DeLay staff member, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making an illegal campaign contribution. He received four years' probation and a $10,000 fine. Ellis and Colyandro were accused of scheming to funnel illegal corporate contributions into state races.
Their political efforts produced a Republican majority in the Texas House, paving the way for a controversial mid-decade redistricting effort that helped win more congressional seats for the Republican Party from Texas.
Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, who lost his office due to the controversial redistricting plan, reacted with disappointment.
"When people don't follow the rules, there needs to be some kind of recourse. There are any number of instances in which DeLay didn't follow the rules with regard to the politics of our country," said Lampson, who ironically won the seat left open by DeLay's resignation in 2006. (He was defeated two years later.)
"He brought significant change in the politics of our state and our country that has brought us to greater polarization and a crisis period with our Congress," said Lampson.
