Sunday, March 19, 2006
Introduction
I have been reading several blogs intended to bring insight into the TX22 Congressional race between Tom DeLay and Nick Lampson. There are several good ones, but noone from inside the District has represented my viewpoint.
You see, I am one of the 30% of Republicans in TX22 that voted for Tom Campbell. Tom Campbell is a true conservative Republican. In fact, the only two policy differences between Campbell and DeLay that I could detect were (1) Campbell favors Congressional term limits and DeLay doesn't; and (2) Campbell ran on a platform of integrity in public office whereas DeLay doesn't seem to care about integrity. Now, I hold public officials to the highest standards of integrity, ethics and character. In 1998, I was horrified to see how little these principles mattered to the Democrat Party during the impeachment of President Clinton. In 2006, I am likewise disappointed at how little these principles matter to Republicans when it comes to Tom DeLay.
Not that I believe all the accusations against my Congressman have merit. The outrage over mid-decade redistricting is entirely political. The antics of Travis County DA Ronnie Earle are entirely political. (In fact, the acts of Ronnie Earle are quite disturbing because he is trying to criminalize political differences.)
However, there are matters that call into question Tom DeLay's ethics, character and integrity. DeLay has been admonished by the House Ethics Committee no fewer than four times. DeLay supporters either deny this has happened or claim that these admonishments don't matter. DeLay has been accused of several less visible breaches of ethical behavior such as his deceitful conduct in the 1996 GOP primary during Milton Wright's first run for Fort Bend County Sheriff and his mutually exclusive testimony under oath regarding his status at Albo Pest Control in 1994.
There is one big unresolved matter hanging over DeLay during this time. I believe it is too early to tell whether/how the Jack Abramoff scandal will touch Tom DeLay.
The decisions of the 30-38% of the Republican voters in TX22 who believe in integrity will determine the outcome of this race. This diary is intended to help observers both inside and outside of TX22 follow the decision making process of one of those crucial voters.
Given the candidates who have already qualified for the ballot, I'd say I have a 90% of being an intentional undervote, 10% DeLay vote and 0% Lampson vote.
You see, I am one of the 30% of Republicans in TX22 that voted for Tom Campbell. Tom Campbell is a true conservative Republican. In fact, the only two policy differences between Campbell and DeLay that I could detect were (1) Campbell favors Congressional term limits and DeLay doesn't; and (2) Campbell ran on a platform of integrity in public office whereas DeLay doesn't seem to care about integrity. Now, I hold public officials to the highest standards of integrity, ethics and character. In 1998, I was horrified to see how little these principles mattered to the Democrat Party during the impeachment of President Clinton. In 2006, I am likewise disappointed at how little these principles matter to Republicans when it comes to Tom DeLay.
Not that I believe all the accusations against my Congressman have merit. The outrage over mid-decade redistricting is entirely political. The antics of Travis County DA Ronnie Earle are entirely political. (In fact, the acts of Ronnie Earle are quite disturbing because he is trying to criminalize political differences.)
However, there are matters that call into question Tom DeLay's ethics, character and integrity. DeLay has been admonished by the House Ethics Committee no fewer than four times. DeLay supporters either deny this has happened or claim that these admonishments don't matter. DeLay has been accused of several less visible breaches of ethical behavior such as his deceitful conduct in the 1996 GOP primary during Milton Wright's first run for Fort Bend County Sheriff and his mutually exclusive testimony under oath regarding his status at Albo Pest Control in 1994.
There is one big unresolved matter hanging over DeLay during this time. I believe it is too early to tell whether/how the Jack Abramoff scandal will touch Tom DeLay.
The decisions of the 30-38% of the Republican voters in TX22 who believe in integrity will determine the outcome of this race. This diary is intended to help observers both inside and outside of TX22 follow the decision making process of one of those crucial voters.
Given the candidates who have already qualified for the ballot, I'd say I have a 90% of being an intentional undervote, 10% DeLay vote and 0% Lampson vote.
# posted by ACR @ Sunday, March 19, 2006 
