richlevy • Jul 6, 2006 10:41 pm
It looks like Tom Delay is running for Congress...whether he wants to or not.:D
DeLay Stays on Ballot Despite Move, Judge RulesOf course he could shoot himself.....
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: July 7, 2006
HOUSTON, July 6 — Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, has to stay on the Texas ballot in November, despite his efforts to move out of state so Republicans can pick a stronger candidate, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
The decision, by Judge Sam Sparks of Federal District Court in Austin, threw the race in the staunchly Republican 22nd Congressional District into new turmoil and gave a victory to Democrats fighting to keep one of their most reviled foes in the running.
Mr. DeLay, who resigned from Congress on June 9, is under indictment on charges of money laundering. To keep his name off the ballot and allow another Republican to run, he moved to Virginia and said he was no longer a candidate from the district.
Judge Sparks said, however, that the move to Virginia did not automatically remove Mr. DeLay's name from the ballot, because he had been chosen in the Republican primary. The ruling prohibits the Texas Republican chairwoman, Tina J. Benkiser, from picking a new candidate from a crowded field.
A lawyer for the Texas Republican Party, James Bopp Jr., said an appeal would be quickly filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans.
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