Embattled DeLay to relinquish seat

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, a primary architect of the Republican majority who became one of the most powerful and feared leaders in Washington, told House allies Monday night that he will give up his seat rather than face a re-election fight that appears increasingly unwinnable.

The decision came three days after his former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges, telling federal prosecutors of a criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay's leadership offices.

Rudy's plea agreement did not implicate DeLay in any illegal activities, but by placing the influence-buying efforts of disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff directly in DeLay's operation, the former aide may have made an already-difficult re-election bid all but out of reach.

DeLay, who will turn 59 on Saturday, did not say precisely when he would step down, but under Texas law, he must either die, be convicted of a felony or move out of his district to be removed from the November ballot. DeLay told Time magazine that he is likely to change his official residence to Alexandria, Va., by the end of May. He said he informed President Bush of his decision Monday afternoon.

"This had become a referendum on me," he told Time in an article posted on the magazine's Web site. "So it's better for me to step aside and let it be a referendum on ideas, Republican values and what's important for this district.

"I'm a realist. I've been around awhile," he added. "I can evaluate political situations." Asked if he had done anything illegal or immoral in public office, he replied: "No."

Former aides and sources close to DeLay said his decision was not motivated by Rudy's guilty plea, but by DeLay's concerns that he might lose his suburban Houston seat to his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson, and his belief that another Republican could win instead. Once DeLay steps aside, the Texas Republican Party will choose a replacement candidate.

DeLay got a temporary political boost last month when he fended off three challengers to win the Republican primary with 62 percent of the vote. But recent polls showed an uphill climb against Lampson and another former congressman, Steve Stockman, who had cut his ties to the Republican Party to run as an independent. In early January, a Houston Chronicle poll showed DeLay trailing Lampson 30 percent to 22 percent, with Stockman taking 11 percent.

Richard Cullen, DeLay's lawyer, said Monday evening that his client's decision to withdraw was "not connected to the criminal investigation."

"This decision was made before the Rudy plea," Cullen said. "That didn't enter into it. It was personal and political."

DeLay's decision capped a long, difficult slide from power that began in September, when a Texas grand jury indicted him on money-laundering and illegal-campaign-finance charges. Under House Republican rules, DeLay had to relinquish his post as majority leader, but he vowed to beat the charges and quickly return to power.

In the ensuing months, the separate federal corruption probe stemming from Abramoff's activities drew closer to DeLay, first eliciting a guilty plea from DeLay's former press secretary, Michael Scanlon, then from Abramoff, whom DeLay once described as "one of my closest and dearest friends."

In 2002, in an unprecedented power play, DeLay jumped into Texas state politics to help secure a Republican majority in the state Legislature, then personally pushed a redistricting plan to secure six additional House seats for his GOP majority.

During the redistricting fight, Texas Democrats fled the state, in an ultimately futile effort to deny Republicans the quorum needed for a final vote.

In 2004, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct rebuked DeLay for asking federal aviation officials to track a plane ferrying Democrats to Oklahoma. The panel also rebuked him for improperly pressuring a fellow Republican to vote for the Republicans' Medicare prescription-drug benefit and for creating the appearance that Westar Energy received special consideration in exchange for campaign donations.

The Texas redistricting fight is seen by some as a crowning political achievement, but also his undoing. Travis County's Democratic prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, secured an indictment on charges that DeLay solicited business contributions, then laundered them through Washington and into the campaign coffers of Republican state legislative candidates. Texas law forbids business donations to State House campaigns.

The indictment cost DeLay his leadership post, but the redistricted map may have cost him his seat. DeLay gave up some Republican strongholds in his district to help elect new Republicans in neighboring districts, bringing his own majority down to 55 percent in the 2004 election. This election year promises to be far more difficult.