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The Strengths of Tom DeLay Paul Weyrich Representative Tom DeLay, R-Texas, spoke before a conservative meeting last week and received two standing ovations. Having attended those meetings for nearly a quarter century, I recall no one receiving two standing ovations. The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen would say: "When they clap for you at the beginning of your speech it represents faith. When they applaud in the middle of your speech it represents hope and when they applaud at the end of your speech it represents charity." It is true that one standing ovation occurred before DeLay said a word. The other occurred after he spoke. There was no charity involved. While DeLay has a poor persona in the media, he is revered in many Republican and conservative circles. Even the House Republican Caucus, which has been fractured in recent weeks, came together after DeLay was indicted.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle has accomplished what no Republican leader has been able to accomplish. Just as Senator Jesse Helms had been portrayed negatively in the media, so has DeLay. Recently a new home for foster children was dedicated in Houston. DeLay saw that it was built. Most people are unaware of what DeLay has done to get foster children out of often abusive situations. That doesn't fit with the image of "The Hammer." That is what the national media have called DeLay because DeLay is the first Republican leader in modern times to attempt to enforce party discipline. Story Continues Below
If DeLay is worried about his indictment on money-laundering charges, he surely does not act worried. He is a man of great religious faith. Over the past 20-odd years I have known Tom DeLay, there have been countless times we have prayed together in his office or on the telephone. It doesn't really matter where, as far as he is concerned.
He believes God has a plan for his life and if it is God's will he will be returned to the GOP leadership, but if God has something else He would rather have Tom, do that would become clear.
DeLay is blessed to have a wife with whom he shares his burdens and triumphs. The problem with so many members of Congress is that their spouses are alleged to be sometimes more liberal than they are. Not so with Christine DeLay. If anyone keeps Tom DeLay on the straight and narrow, it is Christine. She knows the Scriptures. She understands her role as DeLay's partner. Tom and Christine are very close. In fact, they always are, as a DeLay supporter put it, "singing off the same sheet of music." It frankly is refreshing in this era of shattered marriages and broken relationships to see them working closely together.
When he was elected to the Texas Legislature, DeLay owned a small extermination business. He ran for the Texas Legislature because he was fed up with regulations that were ruining his business. After gaining experience in the Texas Legislature, DeLay realized that his state Legislature could not solve all business problems. He ran for Congress and was elected.
Delay was introduced to me as a "solid citizen" by Houston contractor Bob Perry, who helped establish the Swift Boat Coalition, which opposed Senator John F. Kerry, D-Mass., in the 2004 presidential election.
DeLay was conservative but he was not religious. After some time in Congress some colleagues led him to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Charles W. (Chuck) Colson, who founded Prison Fellowship after being jailed for a Watergate-related crime, also was helpful in his journey to the Lord, according to DeLay.
DeLay, who is an achiever, got frustrated after a few years in Congress and wanted to quit. I suggested that would be a terrible mistake and that he should take over the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the caucus of conservative House members, which Ed Feulner and I organized in 1973. DeLay did, ending his frustration.
After Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was elected to the GOP leadership, DeLay and Richard K. Armey, R-Texas, teamed up and were elected to minor leadership posts. When Republicans won a majority in the House, Armey was elected majority leader and DeLay majority whip. That was a position for which DeLay was well suited. It was a position from which, with an impressive coalition, DeLay organized many tough victories. When Armey retired from the House after 18 years, DeLay became majority leader and his first deputy whip, Roy Blunt, R-Mo., became majority whip. Blunt is now acting majority leader. If DeLay, as expected, were to return to the House, Blunt and DeLay probably could run against each other for speaker after Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., retires. In some ways that would be tragic. It would pit two able fellows against each other. It always is possible that a compromise could be worked out whereby Blunt would become majority leader and DeLay would become speaker.
Few recall that Hastert was DeLay's chief deputy when Gingrich was forced to resign as speaker after two terms and a narrow win by Republicans in the 1998 election. Some wanted DeLay to run for speaker, but he understood he then was ill-equipped for that post and refused to run. Hastert has proved to be a consensus-builder as well as a coach, a skill applied from his days as a public high school coach and teacher in Illinois.
It was DeLay who suggested Hastert after Representative Robert Livingston, R-La., who had been expected to succeed Gingrich, chose not to run for speaker. DeLay would be a different leader than Hastert were he speaker. Hastert appears to have risen above the fray. Blunt would be more like Hastert were he speaker. However, that is speculation.
First, the 109th Congress will continue for fifteen months. Second, it is not certain that Republicans will retain control of the House after the 2006 election. Third, Speaker Hastert has indicated he would like to remain in that position through the 110th Congress if the GOP retained control of the House.
Of the Republican leaders I have met in nearly four decades of working in these vineyards DeLay surely is the most courageous. He does not back down. He compromises only when he must.
What of the ethics charges against him? Other than warnings, all have been dismissed. What of this indictment? DeLay says he is being punished for his effectiveness. One thing is clear. He is the Republican liberal Democrats hate the most. As Representative Ralph M. Hall, R-Texas, a Democrat who became a Republican prior to the 2004 election, thanks in some measure to DeLay's redistricting plan, said, "[DeLay] is one straightforward honest guy. He is the kind of guy you want as a leader."
Paul M. Weyrich is the Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Editor's note:
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