Despite being indicted and relegated to the backbenches, Rep. Tom DeLay's political stock remained strong enough with the folks back home for him to win Tuesday night's primary election in his Houston-area district. He will face Democrat Nick Lampson in the general election. The former congressman lost his seat in an adjacent district in 2004 after DeLay and his allies pushed a controversial reapportionment plan though the Texas Legislature, making Lampson's district more Republican.
Lampson, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, is expected to put up a nasty fight for DeLay's seat.
In pondering DeLay’s primary victory, one should ask the glaring question, why? Or better yet, how could this happen? A friend of mine once said, that people view Congress in general as corrupt, but their congressman as incorruptible. How then does one explain, when faced with the facts, the voters still chose to vote for a corrupt man to represent them in Congress. A man who with two associates are facing money-laundering charges for their alleged 2002 roles in funneling $190,000 in corporate donations from a political action committee to Republican candidates for state government, circumventing a Texas law banning corporate donations to political campaigns.
The rule in a democracy is for an informed electorate, in every democracy, especially in the worlds leading democracy-the United States. This primary victory and probable reelection in November indicates one hopes, the exception to this rule.
No comments:
Post a Comment