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U.S. Rep-elect Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, was taken to the hospital this evening after eating dinner and complaining to his wife, Susan, that he wasn't feeling well, according to Lampson spokeswoman Carrie Chess. Lampson had not eaten all day and had not had a day off since the election last month, Chess said. He was preparing to start his vacation Friday. He walked into St. John Hospital in Clear Lake on his own and was taking routine tests to make sure he was OK, Chess said late tonight.

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs talks about rough first week in Washington (11/17/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - She's already served one-seventh of her congressional term. Now, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is touting what she's accomplished on Capitol Hill. And she tells us why most of her staff walked out on her. Gibbs won an election ten days ago to serve the rest of Tom DeLay's term. But earlier this week, most of her staff quit, saying she was a mean boss. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs has had quite a week. "I knew I would have to get to work and work fast," she said. And she did, already...

WASHINGTON — The turmoil in newly elected Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' office deepened Thursday with the Houston Republican demanding a congressional investigation of aides who quit in a mass walkout earlier this week. Sekula-Gibbs said the staffers, holdovers from her predecessor Tom DeLay, deleted records from the office's computers Monday, the day before seven of them resigned in apparent protest of their treatment. "As public servants, they have harmed the 22nd Congressional District and they have brought shame to this office," Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement. "I have a duty to investigate." Sekula-Gibbs was elected to complete DeLay's term. Democrat Nick...

HOUSTON - Just three days after being sworn in, U.S. Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs wants Congress to investigate the destruction of files in her office by former staff members of her predecessor, Tom DeLay. Sekula Gibbs said the staffers walked out of her office Tuesday, resigning en masse. A Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, reported the staffers didn't like the way she was treating them. Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement Thursday that seven employees in her Washington office and the district office in Stafford, Texas, outside Houston, "deleted records and files without my knowledge or permission" before quitting. Spokeswoman Lisa Dimond...

DeLay Successor Seeks Inquiry Into Missing Computer Files By Charles Babington Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 17, 2006; A04 Just when it seemed things could get no stranger regarding the House seat once held by Texas Republican Tom DeLay, his successor called for an investigation into missing computer records last night, and an aide accused her of "disrespect and unprofessionalism." Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R-Tex.), who is warming the 22nd District seat for only a few weeks, said that former DeLay employees apparently deleted the office's computer files shortly before they walked out, en masse, on Tuesday. The records dated...

HOUSTON (AP) - Caretaker Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs didn't take long to make an impression in Washington -- and it wasn't a good one. Sekula-Gibbs was elected to serve out the last seven weeks of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's term. But she somehow prompted nearly the entire staff of the 22nd Congressional District office to walk out on her. Seven employees, who were hired under DeLay's time in office, walked out Tuesday. A former DeLay spokesman complained that the new congresswoman had treated them "terribly." Sekula-Gibbs has raised a few eyebrows on Capitol Hill in her first three days...

Although Mayor Bill White says it's an unnecessary expense, state law requires that the city conduct a special election to fill the seat of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who must resign for her brief stint in Congress. The special city election can be no earlier than May, meaning whoever wins will have to run again next November to keep the job. "It's sort of a shame that we have to pay a lot of money to hold a special election," White said. "But that's the state law as it exists." Sekula-Gibbs was elected Tuesday to serve out the term of former House...

As she prepares to head for Washington, D.C., for a two-month stint in Congress, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs said this morning that she plans to resign her Houston City Council seat as soon as Tuesday's special election is certified. "I made a commitment to the voters of District 22," she said at the start of today's regular council meeting. "It would be really wrong of me to say I don't want that vote and that responsibility." Sekula-Gibbs, a Republican, beat out four other candidates in the special election to serve the remaining two months in U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's term. She lost...

President Bush, his collar open and his sleeves rolled up, told 2,000 cheering Republicans in Sugar Land today that they should "bring your pencil" to the polls and write-in the name of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs to succeed Tom DeLay in the U.S. House. "I always feel better when I'm in Texas," Bush said to the crowd packed into a hangar at the Sugar Land airport, before urging them to take the extra steps necessary to vote for Sekula-Gibbs. Most voters won't really need a pencil to cast write-in votes because they'll use electronic voting machines. If they write in the councilwoman's...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — For all the talk about the political baggage that President Bush carries this year, his stop in Indiana on Saturday showed that he could still turn on — and, White House strategists say, turn out — the most faithful party voters. Women screamed his name, men chanted “U.S.A.,” and no one doubted that the 4,000 people packed into a high school gymnasium for a rally in Sellersburg were primed to urge friends and neighbors to vote on Nov. 7 for Representative Mike Sodrel, who won his seat by just 1,300 votes two years ago. The scene...

On Monday President Bush flies into Houston to campaign for a congressional candidate who — at one point — looked like a long shot. But an exclusive poll indicates that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs may pull off a political upset and win her write-in campaign for Congress.

President George W. Bush will be in Fort Bend County Monday to rally an expected crowd of 5,000 Republican activists, whose support will be needed to keep Congressional District 22 in the party's hands. Monday's rally represents the first time Bush has visited Fort Bend County since becoming president, and possibly the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the county. The event will be held at 5 p.m. at the Sugar Land Regional Airport, and entrance will be limited to those who have secured tickets in advance. County Republican Party chair Gary Gillen said tickets will not be...

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.), who was considered a safe bet for re-election just a few weeks ago, was trailing his Democratic challenger in the first public polls released since the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) broke out. In a related development, the Republican write-in candidate in the race to replace indicted former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has halted plans to campaign with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Reynolds, who said he brought concerns over Foley’s relationship with young pages to Hastert — and whose chief of staff resigned Wednesday over the Foley scandal — was...

Just hours after it became known that the accused killer of a Houston police officer was an illegal Mexican immigrant, top city officials braced themselves for another round of criticism of the city's policies toward illegal immigrants. Houston police officer Rodney Johnson was shot four times in the head during a traffic stop last week. Investigators say Juan Leonardo Quintero, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally has confessed to killing Johnson, a father of five. Quintero had been deported once and crossed the border illegally again. U.S. Rep John Culberson, R-Houston, reminded the public Monday of his...

A poll conducted by the campaign of Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs shows she is the leader of the Congressional District 22 race by more than 10 percentage points, she said on Tuesday. Several Democrats have disputed the validity of the poll, labeling it a "push" poll designed to influence the outcome. Nevertheless, Sekula-Gibbs, who appeared at the grand opening of the Republican Party headquarters in New Territory on Tuesday, announced the poll's results to applause from about 50 attendees. Sekula-Gibbs, who by circumstance seeks the 2006 term as a write-in candidate, referred to her Democratic opponent, Nick Lampson, as "you-know-who." Tom...

<p>HOUSTON (AP) - Five people filed the necessary paperwork by Friday's afternoon deadline to run in the special election to temporarily fill the seat vacated by former House Majority leader Tom DeLay, according to the secretary of state's Office.</p> <p>Gov. Rick Perry this week ordered the Nov. 7 special election to temporarily replace DeLay, who resigned in June although his term doesn't expire until January. The general election is also on Nov. 7.</p>

In yet another surprise in the race for Congressional District 22, there will be two Republican write-in candidates running against Democrat Nick Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither. On Tuesday – the deadline for withdrawing or registering as a write-in – Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs traveled to Austin to file her papers, as expected. But unexpectedly, by the end of the day former Republican congressional candidate and Houston businessman Don Richardson did not ask the Texas Secretary of State’s office to remove his name as a write-in candidate. The move threatens to further confuse voters in what has already been...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry today officially set the special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay to coincide with the general election on Nov. 7. ADVERTISEMENT Candidates wishing to run in the special election must file by 5 p.m. Sept. 1 with the Texas Secretary of State to appear on the ballot. Shortly after DeLay announced in April that he was resigning from Congress, Perry said he would not schedule a special election to fill the vacancy before the general election. Today, he issued the official order setting the date. The winner of the special...

SUGAR LAND — Citing his desire to support the Republican Party in its difficult write-in campaign to hold the congressional seat vacated by Tom DeLay, Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace withdrew from the race Monday. The move leaves Houston Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as the sole Republican write-in candidate — a condition, Wallace said, for $3 million in campaign funding from the national GOP. The state party endorsed Sekula-Gibbs' candidacy last week at a meeting of GOP precinct chairs in the 22nd Congressional District. "Now is the time for all Republicans to unite around one candidate and preserve our conservative voice...

SUGAR LAND — Mayor David Wallace will not run as a write-in Republican candidate for the congressional seat vacated by Tom DeLay. Wallace announced his decision about the Congressional District 22 race today at a news conference at Sugar Land City Hall. The decision comes after Republican party leaders from Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties selected Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as the party's choice to run in the November election as a write-in candidate. No Republican will appear on the ballot because DeLay stepped down after winning the nomination in March. A court ruled the party could...