Longtime opponent to challenge DeLay (DeLay gets opponent in GOP Primary)

Sugar Land Republican Tom DeLay will face opposition in the GOP primary this March from a challenger he's defeated three times.

Attorney Michael Fjetland, who has run against DeLay as a Republican and an independent, has officially filed in the 2006 GOP primary for the 22nd Congressional District.

DeLay defeated Fjetland in the 2000 and 2002 Republican primaries. Fjetland ran as an independent in 2004, in an attempt, he said, to win over moderate Republicans who weren't inclined to vote for a Democrat, even if they weren't happy with DeLay. Fjetland earned 1.3 percent of the vote. He fared better in the GOP primaries.

The 22nd District, which includes parts of Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Harris counties, is solidly Republican and has elected DeLay 11 times.

DeLay, however, is vulnerable according to Fjetland, who said DeLay will be distracted fighting indictments.

"I was not willing to run again. I had decided not to," said Fjetland, who filed on Friday. "But when the indictment came down, it became a whole new ballgame. It really does change the entire dimension of the whole thing. If he's convicted and I'm not on the ballot, then no one is."

A Travis County grand jury in September and October indicted DeLay on charges related to campaign finances.

Last week, a Texas judge upheld two campaign money laundering charges and dismissed a conspiracy charge against DeLay. DeLay's lawyers are hoping for a speedy trial.

DeLay already faces a pitched battle in his re-election bid, where his Democratic opponent in the November general election likely will be former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson.

"We are going to stand with Tom 100 percent," Harris County Republican Party chairman Jared Woodfill said. "Fjetland is a perennial candidate. The people in the district know DeLay best. We believe he will be successful not only in March, but also in November."

Fjetland, who brands himself as a negotiator and expert on counterterrorism and national security issues, said his campaign will focus on his international experience and local values.

"This district includes people of all races, religions, nationalities and backgrounds," he said. "These people deserve a congressman who will represent all of their interests — not just a select few. Too many citizens have been ignored in the past because their issue wasn't 'important' enough."

Fjetland did not mention DeLay by name in his campaign announcement but said he is "running for Congress to give people an alternative to the leadership we have now. I'm the only candidate who has the citizens in mind first, and not my political career or agenda."

Eight months after the 2000 primary, Fjetland sent DeLay a letter saying he would not run again if DeLay would help him get a position with the Bush administration. Fjetland wanted to be U.S. trade representative or U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

DeLay Gets Two Primary Opponents for 2006
Party says it stays behind its Rep.
By Wendy Benjaminson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

HOUSTON — A brawling three-way Republican primary is getting under way for the congressional seat held by embattled U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay.

Michael Fjetland, a lawyer with his own international practice, filed Friday to enter the GOP primary in his fourth try at unseating DeLay. Pat Baig, a former teacher and political newcomer, said she plans to file papers soon but has already begun campaigning.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson is seeking his party's nod.

DeLay, the former House Majority leader who is expected to stand trial next year on charges of money laundering in a campaign finance scheme, usually campaigns quietly without much concern for his re-election in a solidly Republican district.

But he has been rocked not only by criminal charges, but the Supreme Court's decision Monday to review the Texas congressional redistricting plan he engineered. And a recent poll showed that 53 percent of voters in his Houston-area 22nd Congressional District would vote for someone other than DeLay if the general election were held today.

Eric Thode, the GOP chairman in Fort Bend County, which includes the bulk of DeLay's district, said the opponents have a chance "that is as close to zero as zero.

Fjetland was roundly defeated in the 2000 and 2002 GOP primaries. He ran as an independent in 2004 and earned 1.3 percent of the vote.

"I had decided against it (earlier this year) because he was doing his job and paying attention to his district, but the indictment changed everything," said Fjetland, who has been a consultant for a local Fox television station on terrorism issues.

Baig, who has been involved in anti-DeLay protests, said she entered the race because "it's time we had a good debate in this district. We're ready for a change."

Baig said she hasn't voted in a Republican primary in about 30 years because her husband's work in the oil business has kept them overseas, in remote areas where access to an absentee ballot was difficult.

The retired special education teacher said, however, that she considers herself a lifelong Republican.

Fjetland charged that Baig "doesn't have a snowball's chance" in the race because he said her husband was Muslim. "When people hear that, they'll just cringe," he said.

Baig declined to discuss her husband's religion. "Michael has crossed the line.," she said.

DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty dismissed Fjetland as "delusional" and a "joke." Of Baig, Flaherty noted she was a newcomer to Republican politics.

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BFD - I'm sure Tom is shaking in his boots - TAB

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