Groundhog Days Gone By: GOP Sees Shadows of Delay and Abramoff, Rejects Blunt's Bid to Be Majority Leader

Four years ago today, Republicans in the House of Representatives chose a new Majority Leader to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX).  Rep. Roy Blunt, DeLay's hand-picked lieutenant, was expected to fill the slot, and Blunt had publicly predicted an outright win in the three man race. 

Blunt won a plurality of the votes in the first ballot against Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) -- but came 6 votes shy of receiving a majority.  Shadegg came in third, and dropped out for the second ballot.  His support swung to Boehner, and Blunt was defeated on the second go-round by a 122-109 vote. 

The rejection of Blunt's bid to be Majority Leader was a clear repudiation of the Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff legacy, to which Blunt was and is inextricably linked. 

Check out David Broder's response to the election in the Washington Post the next day:

A NERVOUS GOP MAKES ITS CHOICE

The upset victory of Rep. John Boehner of Ohio in the contest for House majority leader reflects the nervousness of congressional Republicans about the lobbying scandal that has rocked Washington.

Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri was the favorite to be elevated from majority whip, the No. 3 job, and he led on the first ballot, falling seven votes short of a majority in the three-way contest. But the support of the eliminated third-place finisher, Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona, swung to Boehner, costing Blunt the job.

Blunt has been closely allied with Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, who was forced to resign as majority leader, in part because of his criminal indictments on campaign finance charges in Texas and in part because of his office's intimate ties with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

As Tom Edsall documented in The Post, Blunt had built a network of relationships with the lobbying community on K Street almost as extensive as DeLay's...

Here's Knight Ridder's take, February 2, 2006:

BOEHNER CHOSEN TO LEAD HOUSE GOP IN BREAK WITH DELAY ERA

...the rejection of Blunt is a break from the leadership era of Rep. Tom DeLay, the hard-charging Texan known as "the Hammer." DeLay was Hastert's strong man until he was indicted on charges of laundering campaign money last fall and a burgeoning lobbying scandal forced him to surrender his leadership post. Blunt was a close ally of DeLay's; Boehner was not. Blunt reverted to the No. 3 leadership post, majority whip.

"There was a desire to get as far away from Tom DeLay as possible. Roy Blunt could not overcome his close association with DeLay," said Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo. "The message is that we do want to change. We don't want the perception or the reality that this is a place of corruption."

And an editorial printed February 2, 2006 in the Post-Dispatch by former Senator Bob Dole's (R-KS) press secretary:

In recent days, Roy Blunt, the acting majority leader and majority whip, has claimed to have enough support to win. The real numbers remain a guessing game. One fact that is not in doubt, however, is that both Blunt and Boehner once had the very strong support of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now an admitted criminal.

Indeed, not only did Blunt and Boehner enjoy the lavish largesse of Abramoff and his clients, but also that of many other powerful Washington lobbyists as well. So much so, in fact, that some conservative GOP House members rightly believe that if Blunt or Boehner is elected majority leader, the Democratic leadership will attack - hypocritically, to be sure - all House Republicans as ethically challenged going into the 2006 elections.

While the highly questionable decisions and suspect relationships of Blunt and Boehner are too many to list, a few are worth noting:

For Blunt, 2002 stands out as a particularly interesting year for fans of sleaze. As was widely reported, just hours after his fellow Republican elected him whip, Blunt shocked many of them by quietly trying to slip a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the 475-page bill that created the Department of Homeland Security. Once alerted, the staff of House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois had it removed.

In connection with Blunt's effort, some Republicans cited Blunt's close personal relationship with a Philip Morris lobbyist, Abigail Perlman. Blunt's office denied there was any connection, although Blunt married Perlman the following year.

Beyond that, Blunt, through his close association with former majority leader DeLay, had numerous connections to Jack Abramoff, his clients and their tainted money - too many for some in the GOP.

This is an anniversary worth remembering.