WASHINGTON, 18 November 2004 — House Republicans proposed rule changes Tuesday night to protect their Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, from losing his leadership position if indicted by a Texas grand jury in a campaign-finance criminal probe. Three of his political associates have already been charged.
GOP internal conference rules state that any elected member of the leadership must temporarily leave his position if indicted on a felony count that could lead to more than two years in prison. Tuesday night’s proposed change would eliminate that requirement for non-federal indictments. The GOP rule drew little notice until this fall, following the indictment of DeLay’s associates, and Republicans began to worry that their Majority Leader might be forced to step down if the grand jury targeted him.
There is no current indication DeLay that faces any charges. He has called the investigation a partisan attack on him. The prosecutor who heads it, Travis Country District Attorney Ronnie Earle, is a Democrat.
Earle’s investigation has focused on a group called Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee founded by DeLay, and its role in the 2002 statehouse elections.
The grand jury indicted three of DeLay’s political associates in a probe of alleged irregularities in 2002 state legislative races. Republican wins in those races paved the way for a congressional redistricting plan in Texas that enabled the GOP to gain five House seats in Nov. 2 elections.
The Republican rule requiring any elected leader to step down from his leadership position pending the outcome of an indictment dates back to 1993, when Republicans sought to draw attention to the ethical problems of then-Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, D-Illinois.
In the early ’90s, when House Republicans were in the minority during the Clinton era, they focused on a series of ethical scandals and claimed that the then-majority power had been corrupted by its years in power.
“We need new leadership which will act because it is right, not because they have been caught in cover-ups and scandals,” DeLay said on the House floor in 1992.
DeLay was admonished earlier this year on two separate occasions by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, actions stemming in part from an ethics complaint filed by outgoing Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas.
Democrats reacted predictably.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said on Tuesday: “If they make this rules change, Republicans will confirm yet again that they simply do not care if their leaders are ethical. If Republicans believe than an indicated member would be allowed to hold a top leadership position in the House of Representatives, their arrogance is astonishing.”
