Lawmaker (Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, R-TX) is House guest for a few weeks

The Los Angeles Times ^ | November 15, 2006

[Clintonfatigued]

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs was sworn in as a congresswoman Monday night, and already she's a lame duck. Due to a weird electoral quirk, her term in office expires next month.

But you couldn't tell that by listening to her.

"I'm working hard to accomplish the things I'm working for," she said Tuesday. "For tax cuts. For immigration reform. To make sure we have a good solution for the war in Iraq."

All that? In a few weeks?

"If there's a way to do it, I'll do it," she said, smiling. "I'll deal with the leadership to get as much done as possible."

Sekula-Gibbs (R-Texas) won a race for Congress on Nov. 7. She also lost a race for Congress on Nov. 7. It's an unusual story:

Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who was indicted on money-laundering charges, resigned from Congress last spring after winning the Republican primary.

Last week, voters in DeLay's old district, the 22nd, got to cast two votes for Congress. The Texas voters elected Sekula-Gibbs to fill the remaining portion of DeLay's term — but they elected Democrat Nick Lampson to succeed DeLay in the Congress that takes office in January, a race that Sekula-Gibbs had to run as a write-in option.

[Clintonfatigued]

Democrats won this race in the courts, not at the polls. All things considered, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs did pretty well at the polls. Hopefully, Texas Republicans will give her another chance in 2008.

[Clintonfatigued]

Ping

[Clintonfatigued]

Hopefully, she will vote for reform in the House leadership while she's there (Mike Pence and John Shadegg).

[KingKenrod]

Hopefully, Texas Republicans in TX-22 will buy a clue the next time they vote. I'm completely embarrassed that my district will be represented by clueless moonbat Nick Lampson because we can't perform the simple act of writing in a candidate whose name appears on the ballot in front of them.

[Bubba_Leroy]

What were the final vote totals on the two elections? How many voters voted for her in the first election but couldn't figure out how to write in her name for the second?

[Redbob]

The Dimocrats didn't "Win this one in the courts!"

Tom DeLay handed it to them on a silver platter!
He damn well knew what Texas election laws are, and in a fit of pique over the fact that the "Party" hung him out to dry, he decided to screw us all over, and retire to his true home, Washington DC.

Screw Tom DeLay and jackass he rode in on.

[TWfromTEXAS]

There are about 10 people in my district who want that job in 08. Most are far more Conservative, better qualified and more knowledgeable than she is.

I would prefer any of them except David Wallace and Tom Campbell.

[fortheDeclaration]

The important thing is that next time we will have a clear primary winner and we stand united behind him, no matter who he is.

[zbigreddogz]

She's a shoe-in in 2008. I don't even know if Lampson will bother running. The district is insane R, and every poll that was just "Would you vote for SSG or Lampson", she won huge. It was only when you explained that SSG was a write in candidate did it become close.

I've also heard it mumbled by some district folks that they would STILL have won if the electorate was all under 40. Even under 50. If only 12 year olds voted, people who felt comfortable with technology, they'd have no problem with the write in. It was only older folks who didn't understand the technology that were the problem.

[zbigreddogz]

He damn well knew what Texas election laws are

Yes, he did.

If the court had followed the election law, we wouldn't have had a problem.

It was judicial activism all the way. Their reasoning was idiotic. The law says that if the candidate no longer lives in the district, then they can replace him.

DeLay sold his house and bought one in Virginia, and told the court.

The court inexplicably argued that, since it was still possible for DeLay to move back to the district before election day, it didn't count.

Which is clearly against the intent of the law. If that's the standard, why have the rule at all? There is no way to ever say difinitively that someone can't move back to the district.

DeLay's record is controversial, and on some level, I do blame him, because he should have seen the possibility of judicial activism and acted accordingly. But it's not like it was clear this would happen and he did it anyway. It actually LOOKED clear that something else would happen, and it just didn't.

[Texas Mom]

Democrats won this race in the courts, not at the polls. All things considered, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs did pretty well at the polls. Hopefully, Texas Republicans will give her another chance in 2008.

If she drops the Sekula.. How can a person with a hyphenated name expect to be elected in a write in vote( on a voting machine yet).

[stevie_d_64]

60%+ voted for her in the "special election", then on the very next page a 20% drop in voter "understanding" left her with a 40%+/- tally...Which gave her a couple of months to do "stuff"...

Various votes that I actually saw in my poll went to "MICKEY MOUSE" and "BATMAN" in the write in...After those same people votred for her in the Special Election...

So whats done is done...The protest voters have made their choice...Nick Lampson is now your (our) guy in D.C.

I'm actually hoping that in the next "normal" election cycle and campaign that a few of the "hopefuls" don't come out of hiding...That would only bring back a bad taste in most peoples mouths in CD22...And give Lampson a legitimate shot at maintaining the seat...

The more we keep the pressure on him from the district that "victory is fleeting", and that this is his last shot...At least in this district...He'll move on...

Thats what he's always done...

Whatever "R" steps up will have a pretty good shot at finishing this one off in 24 months...

[TWfromTEXAS]

KSEV is reporting that after a couple of days with her the ENTIRE DeLay staff quit last night. She was just on the radio and said she was moving to smaller quarters but had no idea why they ALL left. BS.

That staff is well liked in the district, wait until this story gets out around here.

[Eaker]

I heard on the radio that she said that the staff "wasn't treated badly" and that she was "going to fire them anyway."

What a great start.

I agree that D22 will elect a Republican in '08 and that it won't be her.

Does anyone know why she is still telling the tax-cut lie in a now Democrat Congress?

[anymouse]

I suspect that the DeLay staff wanted to coast through the holidays and Shelley wanted them to actually work for their paycheck.

She won't be able to accomplish much in 6 months of mostly down time, but she wants it to appear that she is getting a lot done, for bragging rights in the 08 campaign.

It is not unusual for the old staff to get the bum rush, if they aren't motivated to work with the new Congresscritter. I can see that the DeLay crew has had to deal with a lot of disappointment and dirty work, so they probably felt entitled to coast for a while as they looked for new jobs. Of course with the majority flip over, their job prospects sharply diminished after the election.

[TWfromTEXAS]

anymouse got to be more to it than that. She will be there 6 weeks not six months and Congress will be gone at least 3 of those weeks.

[Clintonfatigued]

Good point. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Lampson ran against John Cornyn in 2008. In the meantime, he'll raise funds and raise his profile. He knows as well as anyone else that he won't be reelected in the district.

[longtermmemmory]

AND she gets the pension!

hopefully she will loose the hypen by 2008

[zbigreddogz]

I don't know what Lampson will do. I think running against Cornyn would be almost as suicidal as running for re-election.

Either way, his political career is pretty much over far as I can tell.