about Tom DeLay

Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay (pronounced /dəˈleɪ/; born April 8, 1947 in Laredo, Texas) is a convicted felon and a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party (GOP) House Majority Leader from 2003–2005. In 2005, after a Texas court charged DeLay with criminal violations of state campaign finance laws and money laundering, he resigned as House Majority Leader. DeLay pleaded not guilty, claiming political motivation for the charges. Additionally, two former senior aides to DeLay have been convicted in the Jack Abramoff scandal, but though the lobbyist knew DeLay, in August 2010, the United States Department of Justice closed the Abramoff-related case file against the former congressman without bringing an indictment.[1] On November 24, 2010, DeLay was convicted by a Texas jury of the primary money laundering and conspiracy charges, for which he faces life in prison. DeLay intends to appeal his conviction.[2]

Before entering politics, DeLay worked in pest control, explaining one of his nicknames, "The Exterminator." He began his long and successful career as a politician in 1978 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Until 1985, when DeLay became a born-again Christian and changed his lifestyle, another of his nicknames was "Hot Tub Tom" because of his drinking and partying. In 1988, after just a few years in the U.S. House, DeLay was appointed Deputy Minority Whip. In 1994 he helped Newt Gingrich effect the Republican Revolution, which gave the Republicans the victory in the 1994 midterm election and swept Democrats from power in both houses of Congress, putting Republicans in control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. In 1995, he was elected House Majority Whip.

With the Republicans in control of both chambers in Congress, DeLay, along with Gingrich and conservative activist Grover Norquist, helped start the K Street Project, an effort to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire only Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials. DeLay was elected House Majority Leader after the 2002 midterm elections, earning his most famous nickname, "The Hammer," for his enforcement of party discipline and retribution against those who did not support the legislative agenda of President George W. Bush. On policy issues, not just political strategy and tactics, DeLay was known as one of Capitol Hill's fiercest, staunchest conservatives during his years in Congress, earning very high marks from conservative interest groups (e.g., business, gun rights, pro-life) and very low marks from liberal ones (e.g., civil liberties, labor unions, environmental protection).

Since leaving Congress, along with tending to his legal troubles, DeLay has co-authored (with Stephen Mansfield) a political memoir, No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight, founded a strategic conservative political consulting firm, First Principles, LLC, and competed on the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars, until stress fractures in his feet caused him to withdraw. DeLay made political news when he became perhaps the most famous Republican yet to promote the "birther" conspiracy theory about President Barack Obama. DeLay also remains involved in foster care, as he and his wife have founded a "Christ-centered" foster community called Rio Bend, near Richmond, Texas. The DeLays formerly fostered three teenage boys, and have one grown daughter of their own, Danielle, a professional dancer.