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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

TX-22: Bugman Bugs Out

Posted by DavidNYC

That, of course, should have been my original title last night. Anyhow, some more legal analysis on how DeLay might be replaced, from Rick Hasen:

With news that Tom DeLay is withdrawing from his House reelection contest, the question is what happens now in his race. It appears that the following is the applicable Texas law (putting aside any caselaw that might affect interpretation of these chapters):

Under Texas Election code section 1.005(7), DeLay was running in a 'General election for state and county officers' [, which] means the general election at which officers of the federal, state, and county governments are elected." Section 145.031 et. seq. set forth the rules for "a candidate who is a political party's nominee in the general election for state and county officers except a candidate for president or vice-president of the United States." DeLay is the party's nominee in a general election for state and county officers and he's not a candidate for president or vice president, so these rules apply.

Under 145.032, DeLay can withdraw because it is more than 74 days before election day. If he withdraws, under section 145.035, his name is omitted from the ballot. Under section 145.036, the political party's executive committee can only fill a vacancy under limited circumstances (such as catastrophic illness), none of which seem to apply to DeLay. So this route does not look like it would work for DeLay.

Instead, reports suggest he will move from Texas, thereby becoming ineligible to serve. (See section 145.003 on declaration of ineligibility.) If he is "ineligible" rather than "withdraws," section 145.036 gives the party the right to name a candidate to fill the vacancy.

There are also rumors that the governor could call a special election. Under 204.021, "An unexpired term in the office of United States representative may be filled only by a special election in the same manner as provided by Chapter 203 for the legislature, except that Section 203.013 does not apply." (203.013 sets forth a timetable for the election.) Chapter 203 sets forth the requirement of a special election, the requirement of a majority vote (meaning a runoff will be necessary if no candidate gets a majority of the vote), etc. But this would only apply to the unexpired term. There's this provision that appears to allow a replacement to run for the full term, but only if the vacancy occurs after the general election. So even if the governor calls a special election that chooses someone to serve out the rest of DeLay's current term, that does not appear to affect the nomination rules for the upcoming general election.

Slinking off to Virginia, tail tucked between legs, utterly defeated. The true Tom DeLay reveals himself.

(Tip to Adam B.)

Posted at 09:00 AM in 2006 Elections - House, Texas | Technorati

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Comments

What part of VA is he moving to? Im assuming Northern VA where he commute to DC and engage in more illegal lobbying activity. Despite its conservative leanings Virginia is no Texas (thank God) and if he moves to NOVA he will be surrounded by a sea of blue: Fairfax, Falls Church, Alexandria, Arlington, and DC to the North. I hope he gets thoroughly annoyed.

You know we have a song for things like this at basketball and football games: "na na na na.... na na na na.... heeeeyyyyyy goood byeeeee"

Posted by: UVA08 at April 4, 2006 11:11 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Hang down your head Tom DeLay, Hang down your head and cry!

Posted by: RBH at April 4, 2006 11:14 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm as pleased as everyone else is, but there is still a lot of work to do to make TX-22 flip. Independent candidate Steve Stockman, already in the race, will appeal to many of DeLay's voters as much as, or more than, whatever official GOP candidate gets on the ballot. He's a former GOP congressman, hates Lampson even more than he hated DeLay, I imagine, and will strike many TX-22 voters as qualified. I'm crossing my fingers that the GOP comes up with a very credible candidate, rather than one so weak that he or she throws the race to Stockman. I don't want Stockman back in Congress much more than I wanted Tom DeLaty to keep the seat. (what disagreeable choices!)

I've moved Lampson up on my ActBlue page, right under Francine... to take advantage of the euphoria over seeing the ugly giant topple.

http://www.actblue.com/page/2006fund

Posted by: Christopher Walker at April 4, 2006 01:47 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Supposedly De Lay's residence will be in Alexandria. Hope he enjoys Jim Moran-D as his new congressman and living under a Dem Governor (been a long time Tom) LOL.
Agree, as I posted yesterday, this is a good commute for a lobbyist, unless GWB is willing to appoint him to some marvelous position or maybe he'll go to work for the RNCC as their exterminator.
In any case, my hope is that former Cong. Stockman stays in the gen election race as an Indy.
CQ Politics has issued a new write-up and is keeping it as "No Clear Favorite".
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/04/tx_22_storied_career_to_end_wh.html

Posted by: Predictor at April 4, 2006 02:13 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

What about the Supreme Court scenario? Isn't the court going to rule on the Republican's Gerrymandering of the state, potentially overturning the new congressional district lines? Under the old map, Lampson could return to his previous district, and DeLay's district becomes even more firmly republican (he may be corrupt but he really did care about a Republican congressional majority - enough to sacrifice heavily republican areas to other districts).

I hope whatever the Supreme Court does is big. The more reminders the media can give voters about Tom DeLay and Republican corruption through the summer and even the election the better.

Posted by: Ferris at April 4, 2006 02:39 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Good point Ferris, the last time I read something on the Supreme Court Texas Gerrymander issue was just before the Texas primary, the take at the time was there was concern of running primaries in districts that may change before the general election, and that concern inclued Cuellar's district, which was one of the districts to be effected by the ruling.

The Supreme Court has done a terrible job on Gerrymandering basically giving positive rulings to political gerrymanders which flies in the face of the whole concept: gerrymandering is corrupt political manipulation of political demographics, rather than an action that is done once every ten years with preference given to geographical alignment.

Knowing this, the RNCC started working on this topic over a decade ago, knowing what they could acheive. De Lay certainly took the lead on this.

I doubt that the court will overturn the Texas re-gerrymander, however if they do, it would put in question any of the primaries or special elections run this year. But, I'm sure they will find a way around that.

One question is, at this point, would the Texas Gop prefer it be overturned in order to revert to De Lay's prior district which was made less republican by this re-gerrymander?

Posted by: Predictor at April 4, 2006 03:14 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Predictor, I highly doubt the GOP wants to revert to the old Texas map on the off-chance that DeLay's new district could go Dem. The prospect of Martin Frost and Charlie Stenholm mounting a comeback likely scares them much more than a possible comeback by Nick Lampson.

Posted by: Mark at April 4, 2006 03:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Eh a little off topic but i'm curious does anyone know if a Dem. Filed for the SD Gov. race the filing date is today also I AM SO HAPPY DELAY IS GONE!!!

Posted by: D in FL. at April 4, 2006 03:54 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Mark, My point was that De Lay's district was made less republican to manipulate adjacent seats.aand yes there is a domino effect with the other seats including Cuellar's.
The Texas Gop may feel comfortable with his district as is.
The following reference alludes to a "later this year" ruling by the Supreme Court.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602270156feb27,1,1724565.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Posted by: Predictor at April 4, 2006 04:06 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

ugh... Rick Santorum, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Grover Norquist, George Allen, Bob Marshall, Eric Cantor, Thelma Drake ... and now the Bug Man Tom Delay. I swear this is like a Biblical plague of locusts descending on our fair state.

Posted by: AlecBGreen at April 4, 2006 11:17 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment