Tom DeLay

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Tom DeLay

Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay (* 8. April 1947 in Laredo , Texas ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 2006 and held various leadership positions, most recently that of parliamentary group chairman.

Life

Tom DeLay spent part of his childhood in Venezuela , where his father worked in oil and gas exploration . He graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in biology in 1970 after he was expelled from Baylor University for drinking . During his tenure as an MP in the Texas House of Representatives from 1978 to 1985, he campaigned for the fight against alcoholism .

In the 1984 election , he was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 22nd Congressional Constituency of Texas . He was a member of Congress from January 3, 1985. After the Republicans had won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 1994 congressional election , his party colleagues elected him to Whip the faction in early 1995 . Because of his commitment to party discipline, he was nicknamed "The Hammer". After eight years, he became the majority leader in early 2003.

On 28 September 2005. DeLay was from the prosecutor's office of Travis County indicted, donations amounting to 190,000 US dollars for election campaigns to have misused Republican candidate from Texas. He then temporarily resigned the post of majority leader, but retained his mandate. Further allegations were made in October 2005. According to a testimony of the lobbyist and key witness Jack Abramoff , who also incriminated DeLay, he resigned his office as leader of the Republicans on January 7, 2006 for good. Successor in this office was John Boehner . DeLay continued to deny having behaved ethically incorrect and initially wanted to run again for the House of Representatives. On April 3, 2006, DeLay announced that it would not run for re-election in November 2006. On June 9, 2006, DeLay withdrew prematurely from Congress.

In 2009, the right wing of the Republicans fueled the debate about President Barack Obama's birth certificate, claiming that he was not born in the United States, which would have undermined his legitimacy as president ( natural born citizen ). On August 19, 2009, DeLay said on Hardball that Obama should show his birth certificate.

On 24 November 2010 a court acquitted him in Austin after 19 hours jury consulting for conspiracy and money laundering guilty. On January 10, 2011, a judge sentenced him to three years in prison for conspiracy. He was sentenced to ten years probation for money laundering . An appeals court overturned the 2013 conviction, which the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal upheld in October 2014.

In addition to Jack Abramoff's, DeLay's lobbying activities are dealt with in the 2010 documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money .

Positions

DeLay is considered a very conservative, right-wing Republican.

In foreign affairs he is known as a strong supporter of Israel . In his view, only the Republican Party, as opposed to the Democrats, is loyal to Israel. In 2003 he visited Israel and met members of the Israeli parliament . He rejects any compromise regarding the return of occupied territories to the Palestinians , so right-wing politician Arieh Eldad said he always thought he was the right wing in parliament until he heard DeLay's speech. Former Mossad boss Dani Jatom said: "The Likud is nothing compared to this guy".

In 2005, he was one of the people who led the Bush administration to decline support from the Palestinian Authority . Some Jewish politicians expressed concern about the manner in which the "Texan Republican Evangelical is undermining American and Israeli efforts to find a two-state solution."

Web links

Commons : Tom DeLay  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rachel Weiner: Tom DeLay Joins The Birthers In "Hardball" Appearance. In: Huffington Post , September 19, 2009.
  2. ↑ Tom DeLay faces life imprisonment. Bush's ex-parliamentary group leader found guilty of money laundering. In: NZZ Online , November 25, 2010; Republican convicted DeLay. Former parliamentary group leader guilty of money laundering. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 25, 2010, p. 7.
  3. ^ DeLay Sentenced to 3 Years in Conspiracy and Money-Laundering Case. In: The New York Times , January 10, 2011.
  4. ^ Ed O'Keefe: Tom DeLay conviction overturned by Texas court. In: The Washington Post , September 19, 2013; Alex Rogers: Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win. In: Time , October 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Tom Curry: DeLay makes intense appeal for Jewish voters , MSNBC. September 1, 2004. Retrieved April 15, 2006. 
  6. ↑ Megan K. Stack: House's DeLay Bonds With Israeli Hawks. In: The Los Angeles Times , July 31, 2003, p. A 5.
  7. ↑ Dubose and Reid, p. 236.
  8. ↑ Ori Nir: House Sets Limits on Palestinian Aid As DeLay Defies Calls of Bush, Rice. In: The Forward , March 18, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME DeLay, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES DeLay, Thomas Dale
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Laredo , Texas