MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR:
THE MEANING OF DELAY DROPPING OUT OF THE RACE

Tom DeLay says he’s quitting the race for congress because Nick Lampson had him whipped so totally there was nothing Tom could do to overcome the inevitability of a Lampson victory in November. So why waste those millions of dollars DeLay received from his lobbyist buddies on a hopeless election when he could transfer those funds to a legal defense fund which just might possess a somewhat greater chance for success?

And so we witnessed the earliest election concession speech in American history. Traditionally candidates wait at least until the polls close on election day to acknowledge electoral defeat. Not this time. In announcing his intention to throw in the towel, DeLay did not claim he was doing it for “personal reasons” or to spend more time with his family or to devote attention to business pursuits, or even that he was going to need to concentrate on defending himself from criminal charges and so wouldn’t have time to represent his constituents or campaign adequately. No, Tom DeLay’s announced reason for quitting the race was that Lampson had him beat, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Undeniably, Tom DeLay had some baggage, and that would have cost him some votes in the November election. He apparently (or at least arguably) violated some campaign finance laws, but, folks, the voters in the 22nd congressional district aren’t that fixated on this one issue. If they were, DeLay wouldn’t have so handily won the nomination of his party in the primary election – at least not without a runoff.

No – and this is the point of this article – DeLay realized he could not win the vote in November because the majority of voters in that district – nominally Republican – do not share the vision of America this bunch in power in Washington (elected Republicans) of which Tom DeLay was a ctitical part and “true believer” has in mind. They do not want the kind of “leadership” which Tom DeLay and his party represent – prostitutes to the monied special interests, willing to sell out the American public and its future for the benefit of their monied cronies, unconcerned about truth.

Nick Lampson beat Tom DeLay – thrashed him, actually – because Lampson is someone the voters know they can trust, a decisive leader, who truly cares about the things most Americans care about – measuring well being by whether folks can afford to put gas in their automobiles (not by whether big energy companies can make multi-billion dollar profits because of an energy policy crafted in secret with their buddy Dick Cheney), whether they have health insurance for themselves and their kids (not obscenely profitable pharmaceutical giants), whether their families are going to be be kept together or ripped apart by an immigration policy which focuses only on punitive enforcement measures, how we get out of a war which has cost us dearly, both in lives and in money, which we were duped into by an Administration bent on engagement even if it had to be less than candid with the American public to achieve its objective, whether we are going to pass on to our children and our grandchildren a robust, fair, and decent society or a debt so crushing and an environment so ruined future generations will be unable to enjoy the wonders and opportunities we we given by those who went before us.

Nick Lampson’s is not the only race we can and will win in November elections. We have a terrific slate of candidates. And almost to the person they share these qualities: they are individuals who are decisive leader, who the voters know (or will know) they can trust because they are truthful and sgraightforward, and who genuinely care about the things voters care about – from education to health care to jobs to a tough but fair immigration policy to equality to the environment. That, my friends, is the formula for victory.

And we can and will accomplish that mission.

This article was about how our candidates can lead us to victory – by demonstrating the character traits I have described and they possess. Next time, some thoughts on what each of us can – and must – do “in the trenches” to help make that objective a reality.

Gerry Birnberg
Chair, Harris County Democratic Party
April 26, 2006

Archive of Gerry Birnberg's Messages

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