Well, Tom DeLay has finally informed us of his intended resignation date -- and I am unhappy about it.

He won't resign until June 9, 2006 -- and presumably will not render himself ineligible to be on the ballot until the same time.

Rep. Tom DeLay, the once-powerful majority leader whose career was undermined by scandal, said Thursday he would resign from the House on June 9.

"As you are aware," the Texas Republican wrote House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., "I have recently made the decision to pursue new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from an arena outside of the U.S. House of Representatives."

He told Hastert he would resign at the close of business on June 9.

The combative conservative last month stated his intention to resign in June, saying he did not want to allow Democrats to turn the next election in his district near Houston into a negative personal campaign.

Why am I unhappy? Because the resignation will not take place before the Texas GOP convention on June 2-3 -- when I had hoped to see the party's new standard-bearer announced and given a rousing launch to his/her campaign. Instead, the formal selection process cannot even begin for a week after convention ends.

Assuming, of course, that the man doesn't dally about switching his residency and notifying the party here in Texas.

Once that takes place, state law sets the following process for selecting a replacement candidate.

1) State GOP Chair declares DeLay ineligible for reelection.

2) Precinct chairs from the district caucus by county and select one of their number to form a committee to select a new candidate.

3) Committee meets to select a new candidate.

4) If no candidate is selected by 70 days prior to the election, the State Republican Election Committee may select a candidate.

5) General election takes place in November -- in this case, in tandem with a free-for-all special election to complete the last two months of Delay's term of office.

Nick Lampson's folks are still not willing to admit that state law permits the removal of DeLay and the naming of a replacement.

Many have speculated that LampsonÂ’s campaign or the Democratic Party would challenge DeLayÂ’s ability to drop off the ballot merely by changing residency.

“We have never conceded that Tom DeLay can legally remove his name from the ballot simply because he saw he was going to lose and wanted the chance to choose his successor,” Malaise said two weeks ago.

This despite the fact that state law has specific provisions allowing for exactly such a process to take place if a candidate becomes ineligible -- and Constitutionally, Tom DeLay becomes ineligible the minute he establishes residency in another state by doing something like registering to vote there.

There is, of course, another candidate in the race besides Nick Lampson.

Former Rep. Steve Stockman has collected enough voter signatures to run as an independent candidate in the race to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Stockman, a former Republican, has collected more than the 500 signatures needed, said campaign spokesman Jason Posey, though he didn't immediately know the total amount.

Most of us are quite unhappy about this, given that Stockman's candidacy can only hurt the eventual GOP nominee.

I'll say it loud and clear -- I wish that Delay were leaving office TODAY, so we could hasten the process along. Actually, havign been nominated, I wish he would have stuck it out no matter what the polls said on his reelection chances. Better yet, I wish he had not sought the nomination, since there is every indication that he had been seriously considering a withdrawal from the general election as early as the day he filed for reelection.

It is going to be a long month for me and the rest of the precinct chairs in CD22.

Posted by: Greg at 10:41 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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