Editorial, report spell new troubles for DeLay (old media reports on editorial to bash Tom)

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 29, 2005 | MICHAEL HEDGES and SAMANTHA LEVINE

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON - A scathing rebuke in a national newspaper with a strongly conservative editorial page and a report that his family had ended life support for his father created fresh troubles for Tom DeLay on Monday, but there were no clear signs that his core supporters were abandoning the House majority leader.

The Wall Street Journal, which in the past has quibbled with DeLay over issues, took dead aim at his ethical conduct.

" ... Mr. DeLay, who rode to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at the everyday ways of big government, has become the the living exemplar of some of its worst habits," the newspaper editorialized.

'There is no comparison'

The story about DeLay's father, Charles, first published by the Los Angeles Times, comes a week after the Sugar Land Republican led an effort by Congress to intervene on behalf of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube had been removed on the order of a state judge.

Dan Allen, DeLay's spokesman, denied any implication that the congressman had acted inconsistently.

"As much as the press would like to make this a comparison between Congressman DeLay's father and Terri Schiavo, there is no comparison," said Allen.

The elder DeLay was "in a coma and not responsive and being kept alive by machines," he said. Schiavo "is awake, the family says she knows when they are with her, and she was receiving what every human being needs to survive."

In an unprecedented step, Congress passed a law in the middle of the night ordering a federal court to review the order to remove Schiavo's feeding tube. Since then, however, the federal courts have refused to overturn the lower court's ruling.

A matter of perception

The disclosure that the DeLay family had decided against connecting Charles DeLay to a dialysis machine after his kidneys failed could create a serious perception problem for the Texas lawmaker, some analysts said.

"It doesn't always matter what the facts are, but how they look," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. If people become suspicious of DeLay and his motives, "that is when a guy is really in significant trouble."

The Schiavo case only temporarily diverted attention from news reports in recent weeks questioning DeLay's overseas travel and political fund raising.

The Wall Street Journal editorial again put a spotlight on DeLay's ethics. The newspaper said DeLay had once campaigned as a lawmaker who would change the way Congress did business and instead became a cash-slinging rainmaker who betrayed "the broader set of principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, sooner or later will sweep him out."

'Fiction and inuendo'

Allen said the editorial is based on flawed and incorrect accusations.

"They are commenting on the relentless attack that the Democrats and their allies have thrown up against Congressman DeLay," he said.

Allen added that DeLay already has said he "looks forward to sitting down with the chairman and ranking member of the ethics committee to get the facts and information out there to replace the fiction and innuendo that has been thrown around."

Still, the editorial may signal a shift in how some conservatives view DeLay.

"My conservative colleagues rely heavily on the Wall Street Journal, but recognize the paper has an agenda different than social conservatives," said Richard Viguerie, a pioneer in conservative political direct mail and founder of the Conservative Digest magazine.

"The Journal is concerned about stable leadership for big business," said Viguerie. "But for (social) conservatives, DeLay is one of our own. He walks with us."

200 he can count on

DeLay retains his power over Republican lawmakers, said Michael Franc, a government expert for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"He can raise money for them, he can get them important leadership assignments, he can help them get re-elected," said Franc. "In return, there are about 200 members of the House who are willing to lay their bodies on the line for him."

But some observers of Congress say ethics probes can suddenly flare out of control, as when former House Speakers Texas Democrat Jim Wright and Georgia Republican Newt Gingrich were forced from power.

"If you've seen a chicken in the barnyard get a peck on his head so a little blood is showing, then the other chickens all rush in and peck him to death, that is the danger for Tom DeLay right now," said Charlie Wilson, a former Democratic member of Congress from Lufkin. "He's got a little blood on his head, and sometimes that is enough to get you killed."

michael.hedges@chron.com samantha.levine@chron.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

For years, the Houston Chronicle has had almost daily hit pieces on Tom DeLay. Houston used to have two daily newspapers, now the Left controls the remaining one.

[Jaysun]

This is so sleazy. Tom won't go down in flames, and it drives them insane.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They've put chum in the water for years hoping everyone will come in for the kill.

Tom DeLay is strong, effective and showing the GOP how to govern when you are in power.

[West Coast Conservative]

DeLay in '08!

[Jenya]

bookmark

[Once-Ler]

DeLay in '08!

I'd vote for him, but I prefer Aschcroft-DeLay 08

[Once-Ler]

This is so sleazy.

That is exactly the right word for it. Sleazy.