Beyond City Limits

27 Jul 2006 // The Republican Party has stepped up efforts to have its onetime hero, former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, removed from the November ballot. Last week, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott entered the fray, filing a brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks erred when he determined that the state Republican Party doesn't have authority to declare DeLay ineligible for the ballot, after the congressman resigned his seat in June and officially transferred his residency to Virginia. DeLay still maintains a home in Sugar Land. Attorneys for the state Democratic Party argue that DeLay's actions were simply a ploy to let the state GOP hand-pick a replacement nominee to run for the congressional seat against Democrat Nick Lampson of Houston. The Harris Co. Republican Party is also circulating a petition urging the federal appeals court to reverse Sparks' ruling. In other DeLay developments, the ex-congressman will pay a $115,000 fine for campaign-finance violations and shutter his once-powerful fundraising arm – Americans for a Republican Majority – as part of an agreement struck with the Federal Election Commission. The FEC's investigation into ARMPAC stemmed from a complaint filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.