Burnt Orange Report

Contact Your Rep-Elect on the DeLay Rule Change

By Byron LaMasters

The Daily DeLay and Josh Marshall have been doing a fantastic job hounding Republican congressmen on their vote on the DeLay rule change. However, I still don't know if or how my Republican Congressman-Elect, Michael McCaul voted. Since new members will probably not yet have D.C. and district offices set up until after the begining of the year, I had no way to contact my congressman-elect (even though Lloyd Doggett is still my honorary congressman, and should I have a federal concern, my mail will most likely go to his office). I mentioned this in a post last week, and sure enough, one of my readers emailed me with contact information for the five Texas Republican Congressmen-Elect.

DISTRICT 1: Louie Gohmert - 903/579-7544
DISTRICT 2: Ted Poe - 281/358-8866
DISTRICT 10: Michael T. McCaul - 512/342-0001
DISTRICT 11: Mike Conaway - 432/685-1033
DISTRICT 24: Kenneth Marchant - 972/245-3311

So, if you live in any of these districts, please call their office and ask how they voted on the Tom DeLay rule. Here's my sample script that I used:

Hi there. My name is __________. Is this the correct contact number for Congressman-Elect ________?

Ok. Well, I was just calling as a concerned voter, and as a new member of congress I know he's probably busy setting up constituent service contact information and such, but I was under the impression that congressmen-elect are able to vote in party caucus meetings? Is that correct?

Well, I was interested in Rep-Elect ________'s vote on the rule change in the House Republican caucus to allow indicted members to serve in the party leadership? Can you tell me how Rep-Elect _______ voted?

I have messages into all five. I'm not expecting a reply from the other four, but I'll keep calling Rep-Elect McCaul everyday until I get a reply, since I am his constituent after all (they drew central Austin into his district, so he'll have to deal with us). I honestly do not know the GOP House caucus rules on the issue. I would be shocked if any of them voted against the DeLay rule. These guys not only owe their victory to Tom DeLay -- none of them would have even run for congress in 2004 without the DeLay/Craddick redistricting saga. I know that Democrats allow Representatives-Elect to vote in their party caucus votes. Two years ago the Democratic candidate for CO-7 (in an undecided race at the time) was the decisive vote that elected Robert Menendez (D-NJ) the caucus chair over Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). I don't know what the deal is with Republicans, but I figure that it's time to find out. So call your Rep-Elect, and let me know via comment or email ( Byron AT BurntOrangeReport DOT com) what you find out.

Update: Ted Poe's office just called me back. They said that Congressmen-Elect have no voting privledges in caucus elections until they are actually sworn in. That's not the case in the Democratic caucus, but I have no idea what the GOP caucus rules are. I'm still going to be sure to get an answer from Rep-Elect McCaul's office, and you all are welcome to call the other guys as well.