DeLay Speaks Out: Charges Are Politically Motivated and Baseless

DeLay Vows Return to House Leadership Role
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Tom DeLay is vowing a quick return to his powerful role as House majority leader despite a criminal indictment, putting him at odds with some moderate Republicans who say his tarnished image could hurt the party.

A defiant DeLay, R-Texas, on Sunday dismissed the criminal conspiracy charges against him as "over the top" and said he can do his job even without the title. He pledged to continue his close partnership with House Speaker Dennis Hastert to aggressively push an agenda of lower gasoline prices and tax cuts in the coming weeks.

Under House Republican rules, DeLay had to step aside as floor leader because of the indictment.

The criminal charges are "so frivolous, so over-the-top, so embarrassing to the judiciary that we ought to be able to get it out of here pretty quickly," DeLay told "Fox News Sunday." "It will be over and be over very, very soon. And I think I will go back to be majority leader."

DeLay said he and Hastert, R-Ill., will continue to plot GOP strategy. "The speaker and I have been leading the House for, what, eight years now. It's because we get along together, we think the same. We are simpatico."

But moderate Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut saw a liability for his fellow Republicans. "We got elected basically by saying we would live by a higher moral standard, and I don't think recently we have," he said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Shays said he has not been not comfortable with DeLay as a House leader, citing "continual acts that border and go sometimes beyond the ethical edge. They may not be illegal, but he's always pushing that ethical edge to the limit."

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., the House Rules Committee chairman initially recommended to take over many of DeLay's duties, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that DeLay "knows he's not going to run things."

Sorry David, DeLay will be back and will be running things. There is substantial reason the believe that this indictment will be dropped in the long run. Conspiracy is the last gasp resort of a D.A. who hasn't got enough evidence to indict on any other charge.

Full Story: DeLay Defense

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