Trapped in Texas

You may recall that before resigning from Congress, Tom DeLay won the Republican primary for his now-former House seat. That presented Republicans with a problem, because Texas law permits replacing a candidate only under rare circumstances. Although DeLay announced that he had moved to Virginia, Texas Democrats sued to keep his name on the ballot, so that Republicans have no actual candidate to run against the Democratic nominee, former-congressman Nick Lampson (a victim of the DeLay-inspired gerrymandering of Texas congressional districts).

Republicans moved the case from state to federal court, where it was assigned to Judge Sam Sparks, who had been appointed by the first George Bush. The move did no good, however, when Judge Sparks ruled that DeLay's name must stay on the ballot.

Judge Sparks was openly critical of the Republicans' tactics, and skeptical of the evidence presented. He noted that the letter in which DeLay announced his move to Virginia had been edited by the chair of the Texas Republican Party. The judge wrote that permitting DeLay to be replaced on the ballot, "would be a serious abuse of the election system and a fraud on the voters, which the court will not condone." He also held that "Political acumen, strategy and manufactured evidence, even combined with a sound policy in mind, cannot override the Constitution." (On the matter of "manufactured evidence," Democrats noted that DeLay's "new" Virginia home is a condominium that he has owned for 12 years, and that his wife continues to occupy their house in Texas.)

Oh, irony of ironies if Tom DeLay's parting shot should be to victimize his fellow Texas Republicans by presenting them with another Democratic congressman.