The latest of Newt Gingrich's former allies in the House to drop the hammer on him is former House Majority Leader Tom Delay. Delay, who was House Majority Whip during Gingrich's speakership, did not mince words, according to the Hill.
The main criticism Delay had of Gingrich was that he was "erratic" and was not a true conservative. He noted the attempted coup that attempted to remove Gingrich from the speakership in 1997 and the fact that he had to step down after disappointing mid-term election results in 1998.
Who is Tom Delay?
Delay was elected to the Texas House in 1978. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1984 and represented the 22nd District of Texas until he was obliged to step down in 2006 because of a criminal indictment over ethics violations. Delay became a Deputy Minority Whip in 1998. He was elected Majority Whip in 1995, after the Republican takeover of the House, beating out Gingrich ally Bob Walker.
In 2002 Delay was elected House Majority Leader in 2002 and was known as an ally of President George W. Bush. Delay was called "the hammer" for his legislative style. Delay was forced to resign from Congress after an indictment on a variety of campaign finance charges. He was convicted in November, 2010, according to the New York Times, and was sentenced to three years in prison. The conviction is currently out on appeal.
What about the attempted coup?
According to CNN, fed up by what they viewed as Gingrich's erratic leadership style, a number of House leaders, including Delay, decided to present the speaker with an ultimatum. Gingrich should resign the speakership or be voted out by the Republican caucus. But then House Majority Leader Dick Armey, another representative from Texas, backed out for reasons that are still disputed.
Armey says he had a crisis of conscience. Other claim he was miffed that Rep. Bill Paxon and not he would replace Gingrich as speaker. In any case Armey chose to warn Gingrich about what was about to occur. After a period of acrimony, back stabbing, and finger pointing, Paxon, then leadership chairman, took the fall.
Armey, Delay, and then conference chairman Rep. John Boehner kept their offices. Gingrich attempted to exact revenge by trying to replace Delay as House Majority Whip with Rep, Denny Hastert. That effort failed as well.
What is Delay up to now?
Besides running a political consulting business and attempting to stay out of jail, Delay spent a season appearing on "Dancing with the Stars." The interview in which he attacked Gingrich is the first time in many months he has publicly offered an opinion on politics.
Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network
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