Tom DeLay

Politician

• Born: April 8, 1947
• Birthplace: Laredo, Texas

Ten-term Republican Congressman Tom DeLay was never groomed for politics, but he steadily worked his way up the political ladder to become a powerful Republican Majority Leader in the House of Representatives. He has been called "the Exterminator," in reference to both his former success in the pest-control business and his government work to promote the party agenda. But he was more commonly referred to as "the Hammer," because of his reputation for nailing down key votes in Congress.

Early Life

DeLay was born on April 8, 1947, in Laredo, a border town located on the Texas banks of the Rio Grande River. DeLay spent most of his childhood in the small, rural towns near the oil fields of interior Venezuela, since his father's career as a drilling contractor in the oil and gas industry required extensive travel throughout South America.

Over the years, the family witnessed firsthand the chaos and uncertainty of political uprisings, and lived through three violent revolutions. DeLay credits his experiences in Venezuela and his childhood exposure to political violence with shaping his political beliefs regarding foreign policy.

Education and Early Political Career

DeLay returned to Texas in time to attend high school, and went on to attend both Baylor University and the University of Houston, where he graduated with a degree in biology in 1970. Instead of pursuing a medical career, as his father had hoped, DeLay purchased the Albo Pest Control company. The responsibilities of operating a successful business in the face of what DeLay saw as the intrusive demands of government taxation and regulation sparked his interest in a career in politics. In 1978, during a Fort Bend County Republican Committee meeting, a party official suggested that DeLay run for an open seat in the Texas legislature. DeLay responded by purchasing a how-to book on electioneering, and mounting his first political campaign. His diligence paid off when he won the election, and he became the first Republican from Fort Bend County to be elected to the state legislature since the nineteenth century.

DeLay served as a legislator for the next six years, sitting on the Public Health, Transportation, and House Administration Committees. In 1984, when an opening appeared in the state's US Congressional delegation, DeLay seized the opportunity to run for Congress. Drawing on his strong conservative values and religious temperament, DeLay's campaign catered to the increasingly conservative trends in his district, and landed an easy victory. Around this time, the politically conservative Christian Coalition was gaining exposure, and DeLay helped the group acquire momentum and recognition.

During his freshman year in Congress, DeLay secured a position on the Republican Committee on Committees, a position that earned him influence and enabled him to help his colleagues get desirable committee assignments. During his second session, he served on the Congressional Appropriations Committee, and was on his way to becoming a key player in national politics.

Majority Whip and Majority Leader

In 1989, during his third term in the House, DeLay operated the campaign of Ed Madigan, who was running against Newt Gingrich for Minority Whip. DeLay suffered a temporary setback when Gingrich won by a narrow margin of only two votes, but he rebounded with a successful run for chairman of the Republican Study Committee. He was given a minor leadership position in 1992, and two years later, as the Republicans gained a majority in the House, DeLay became Majority Whip.

In this new role, DeLay earned the nickname "the Hammer," because of his steadfast, persistent, and aggressive leadership style. He rarely lost a vote, persistently finding a way to win by exploiting a wide network of relationships with party representatives in a method he referred to as "growing the vote." Preserving the core of the Republican philosophy, he was considered by many to be the most effective Whip in the history of the House of Representatives. Over the years, he used both his political skill and his reputation to win votes on trade promotion authority, welfare reform, prescription drug legislations, and budget reform and tax cuts.

In January 2003, DeLay became Majority Leader, assuming greater responsibility for developing the issues and policies vital to the conservative agenda. He controlled the flow of legislation and was a visible spokesman for the key elements of President George W. Bush's agenda. In addition, he became increasingly vocal about foreign policy issues, and delivered hard-line invectives against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, among others. DeLay also helped pass the controversial congressional resolution authorizing Bush to use force against Iraq in 2003.

DeLay resigned in 2005 after being served an indictment related to corruption charges related to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Two years later, he published the book No Retreat, No Surrender: One America's Fight, coauthored with Stephen Mansfield. In 2009, he appeared on the reality television series Dancing with the Stars.

On January 10, 2011, DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison upon being found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy. After filing an appeal, he was released on bail and faced over two years of court battles in an attempt to clear his name and reverse the charge. Finally, in September 2013, an appellate court in Texas overturned the conviction based upon the decision that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient. Although the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals then agreed to review this decision in 2014, the state's highest court overwhelmingly ruled in favor of upholding the lower court's ruling later that year, freeing DeLay from legal persecution for the first time in almost a decade.

Bibliography

Bickerstaff, Steve. Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom DeLay. Austin: U of Texas P, 2007. Print.

Cogan, Marin. "The Passion Play of Tom DeLay." National Journal 5 Oct. 2013: 13. Print.

DeLay, Tom, and Stephen Mansfield. No Retreat, No Surrender: One America's Fight. New York: Sentinel, 2007. Print.

O'Keefe, Ed. "Tom DeLay Conviction Overturned by Texas Court." Washington Post. Washington Post, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.