Tom DeLay messed with Texas big time by placing party above…well everything, according to columnist Patricia Kilday Hart in the Dallas Morning News.
Redistricting Republicans into virtually every office has left the state with few ranking members, and now that DeLay himself has been forced from office under a cloud of scandal, Texans are crying in their Lone Stars.
…the Texas delegation underwent dramatic change after the 2004 elections, which were based on the Republican-friendly map Mr. DeLay forced through the state’s Legislature…In that election, Texas lost 85 years of seniority and three powerful ranking members of Congress.
“The Texas delegation went from the most powerful to one of the weaker large state delegations, really as a result of [Mr.] DeLay’s efforts,” says Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic research operation…
DeLay’s timing of his cut and run couldn’t be worse, Hart adds.
With Mr. DeLay’s retirement, Texas enters what one state official calls “uncharted territory,” with a delegation now claiming only one committee chairman and no leadership position — perhaps the state’s worst portfolio since the Great Depression. What’s more, this decline in stature coincides with President Bush’s lame-duck phase — and Mr. Bush’s precipitous decline in the polls.
…And then there’s also the question of what happens if the Republican Party loses its majority. “If the Democrats regain control of the Congress, the Texas delegation will be without a single chair or a single ranking member,” Mr. Angle notes.
Yes indeedy. “Democrats regain control of Congress.” Has a real ring to it, doesn’t it?
