Regarding "Delay's Legacy" (Saturday Editorial) and Jill Falkenberg's article from the day prior, the common theme of both pieces is that Republican Tom Delay was uniquely corrupt in the annals of Texas politics. Reading either piece would lead one to believe that Delay not only invented Gerrymandering, partisanship and money laundering, but was the sole practitioner.
There's two problems with this interpretation:
There's two problems with this interpretation:
1) In 2002, just prior to the Delay-led Gerrymander, Democrats won 53% of Texas congressional seats despite getting only 40% of the popular vote. This happened because Democrats had successfully Gerrymandered the daylights out of the electoral map for decades prior. So blatant were Democrats' abuses that in 2006, the courts upheld the entirety of the 2003 Republican redistricting map.
2) Neither piece mentions the shenanigans of Democrat prosecutor Ronnie Earle back in those days. The editorial makes much of the fact that a three judge panel unfairly overturned a jury's earlier guilty verdict, but I for one recall that Earle repeatedly convened grand juries until he got one that would indict Delay. And let us not forget that Earle also led the effort to bring former Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchison up on bogus corruption charges just prior to focusing his attention on Delay.
I've never been a fan of Tom Delay. He abused the Earmark process to wield political power, but in so doing he was simply taking a page out of a manual written by the Democrats. That said, a fair telling of his story would include some history on Democrat Gerrymandering prior to Delay, along with the efforts of Democrat partisans like Earle to use the criminal justice system to harass their opponents. Hate him if you will, but Delay's efforts resulted in election results that are far more fair than those when Democrats ruled Texas, and he should not have had to spend a decade and millions of dollars to defend himself against a partisan onslaught.
Pete Smith, Cypress
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Check the record
Regarding "DeLay's Legacy" (Page B6, Saturday) and Lisa Falkenberg's column, "'DeLay-ism' is just another word for sleazy" (Page B1, Friday), the common theme of both pieces is that Republican Tom DeLay was uniquely corrupt in the annals of Texas politics.
Reading either piece would lead one to believe that DeLay not only invented gerrymandering, partisanship and money laundering but was the sole practitioner. There are two problems with this interpretation:
No. 1: In 2002, just prior to the DeLay-led gerrymander, Democrats won 53 percent of Texas congressional seats despite getting only 40 percent of the popular vote.
This happened because Democrats had successfully gerrymandered the daylights out of the electoral map for decades prior. So blatant were Democrats' abuses that in 2006, the courts eventually upheld the 2003 Republican redistricting map.
No. 2: Neither piece mentions the shenanigans of Democrat prosecutor Ronnie Earle back in those days. The editorial makes much of the fact that a three-judge panel unfairly overturned a jury's earlier guilty verdict, but I for one recall that Earle repeatedly convened grand juries until he got one that would indict DeLay.
And let us not forget that Earle also led the effort to bring former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison up on corruption charges just prior to focusing his attention on DeLay.
I've never been a fan of Tom Delay. He abused the earmark process to wield political power, but in so doing he was simply taking a page out of a manual written by the Democrats. That said, a fair telling of his story would include some history on Democratic gerrymandering prior to DeLay, along with the efforts of Democrat partisans like Earle to use the criminal justice system to harass their opponents. Hate him if you will, but Delay's efforts resulted in election results that are far more fair than those when Democrats ruled Texas, and he should not have had to spend a decade and millions of dollars to defend himself against a partisan onslaught.
Pete Smith, Houston
http://www.chron.com/opinion/letters/article/Wednesday-letters-Evaluating-the-DeLay-decision-4840336.php
Pete Smith, Cypress
-------------------------------------------------
Check the record
Regarding "DeLay's Legacy" (Page B6, Saturday) and Lisa Falkenberg's column, "'DeLay-ism' is just another word for sleazy" (Page B1, Friday), the common theme of both pieces is that Republican Tom DeLay was uniquely corrupt in the annals of Texas politics.
Reading either piece would lead one to believe that DeLay not only invented gerrymandering, partisanship and money laundering but was the sole practitioner. There are two problems with this interpretation:
No. 1: In 2002, just prior to the DeLay-led gerrymander, Democrats won 53 percent of Texas congressional seats despite getting only 40 percent of the popular vote.
This happened because Democrats had successfully gerrymandered the daylights out of the electoral map for decades prior. So blatant were Democrats' abuses that in 2006, the courts eventually upheld the 2003 Republican redistricting map.
No. 2: Neither piece mentions the shenanigans of Democrat prosecutor Ronnie Earle back in those days. The editorial makes much of the fact that a three-judge panel unfairly overturned a jury's earlier guilty verdict, but I for one recall that Earle repeatedly convened grand juries until he got one that would indict DeLay.
And let us not forget that Earle also led the effort to bring former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison up on corruption charges just prior to focusing his attention on DeLay.
I've never been a fan of Tom Delay. He abused the earmark process to wield political power, but in so doing he was simply taking a page out of a manual written by the Democrats. That said, a fair telling of his story would include some history on Democratic gerrymandering prior to DeLay, along with the efforts of Democrat partisans like Earle to use the criminal justice system to harass their opponents. Hate him if you will, but Delay's efforts resulted in election results that are far more fair than those when Democrats ruled Texas, and he should not have had to spend a decade and millions of dollars to defend himself against a partisan onslaught.
Pete Smith, Houston
http://www.chron.com/opinion/letters/article/Wednesday-letters-Evaluating-the-DeLay-decision-4840336.php
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