"TX 22: Storied Career to End When DeLay Leaves Hill" Archives

"TX 22: Storied Career to End When DeLay Leaves Hill"

Tom DeLay’s rise to the pinnacle of influence on Capitol Hill was characterized by iron-fisted control over his House Republican colleagues, and a cozy relationship with lobbyists.
The former House majority leader’s slide from that perch, which appeared complete Monday night as word spread that he was abandoning the Texas seat he has held since 1985, began as he and some of his closest associates sank into a quagmire of legal and ethical allegations, many of them related to the associations he built with K Street.

And as the whiff of scandal grew stronger, DeLay’s House colleagues, many of whom had respected or feared him not long ago, quickly turned elsewhere for leadership, despite DeLay’s insistence that his troubles were politically motivated attacks orchestrated by Democrats.

DeLay’s decision to leave Congress comes after a key former aide, Tony Rudy, pleaded guilty March 31 to a conspiracy charge in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
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"TX 22: Storied Career to End When DeLay Leaves Hill," by Daniel J. Parks, CQPolitics.com, April 4, 2006