Burnt Orange Report

Tom DeLay Runs and Hides

By Byron LaMasters

The Tom DeLay protest which Karl-Thomas mentioned was sort of cancelled because DeLay rescheduled the fundraiser to be three hours earlier at the last minute, but dozens of protesters and several media folks showed up anyway. I got bored after about ten minutes and rode my bike right back to campus, but a Tom DeLay theme seems to be emerging. He's toxic to most everyone outside of Sugarland. No one wants to be seen with him. Whether it be Jack Stick and Todd Baxter today, or Billy Tauzin III last week, nobody wants to be seen with Tom DeLay.

Here's what Capitol Inside reported on today's events:

Now you see him, now you don't.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay outfoxed local Democrats who'd been planning to protest his appearance at a Monday fundraiser in downtown Austin. The powerful Texan slipped into town four hours earlier than originally scheduled, started raising cash for his re-election campaign and hoped to hit the road before any angry protestors arrived on the scene.

[...]

But DeLay pulled a fast one on the Democrats with a last-minute change of plans. He had sponsors move the fundraiser from the noon hour up to to 8 a.m. Lobbyists and others who'd indicated plans to attend the event were alerted Sunday night to the scheduling revisions.

[...]

DeLay arrived at the Austin Club about 7:50 a.m. in a black Cadillac Escalade sports utility vehicle, which followed another car into an alley off 9th Street between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street. The congressman, who was accompanied by a small security detail, entered the building througha sid e door on the alley. There wasn't a single protestor in sight at the time.

The Austin fundraiser was designed to help DeLay raise cash for his general
election race against Democrat Richard Morrison, a Sugar Land lawyer who's attempting to overcome long odds in challenging the second most powerful Republican in the U.S. House. Democrats became incensed when they heard last
week that DeLay planned to raise money for his re-election in Austin just a
few blocks from the county courthouse where District Attorney Ronnie Earle has been leading the grand jury inquiry since early 2003.