Chris Bell, a Houston Democrat, was elected to Congress in 2002 after serving five years on the Houston City Council and chairing the Council's Ethics Committee. In June 2004, Bell filed an ethics complaint against Tom DeLay in response to DeLay's repeated abuses of House Ethics rules. The House Ethics Committee unanimously admonished DeLay as a result of Bell's complaint. Bell is currently the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas.
Like most of you, I was pleasantly surprised last night to hear the news of Tom DeLay's decision to resign from Congress. I'd be less than truthful if I told you I knew this day would come when I first filed the ethics complaint against the then-Majority Leader nearly two years ago. Back then, even members of my own party told me I was crazy to expect that DeLay would ever be held accountable for his abuses, and I had plenty of doubts myself. The culture of corruption had become so deeply rooted in Washington that it was accepted as a given that the whole mess would just be swept under the rug.
Well, you showed them. In the end, it wasn't an ethics complaint that undid Tom DeLay, or the admonishments that came out of the complaint, or even the criminal indictments that eventually followed. Sure, that was all part of it but, in the end, Tom DeLay was brought down by the determination and optimism of grassroots leaders who refused to accept the failed status quo. When jaded insiders laughed at the thought that a man as powerful as DeLay could ever be held accountable for his actions, you refused to be cowed and continued to hold his feet to the fire.
Tom DeLay's resignation is a great victory in the fight to clean up corruption in politics, but the war is far from over. I've said from the start that the culture of corruption is about a heck of a lot more than Tom DeLay. So as we celebrate the end of his reign of corruption, we need to move toward real progress by turning the conversation from how bad one man is to how good we can all be.
Here in Texas, I got into the race for governor last year because it troubled me deeply to see Tom DeLay's protégé, Gov. Rick Perry, importing the worst traits of Washington-style politics to Austin. The problem with the culture both in Washington and Texas is an excessive tolerance for corruption, and it seems at times that what they do that's illegal isn't as bad as what they do that's legal.
That's why I've made ethics reform a cornerstone of my campaign for governor. I've proposed a "Don't Mess With Ethics" reform plan that lays out common sense ideas for closing the revolving door, limiting the influence of money in campaigns, and putting real teeth into the enforcement of ethics laws. It's a roadmap for building on the lessons Tom DeLay taught us and restoring accountability and transparency to our state's government.
A friend of mine in San Antonio joked a few months back that if God has a sense of humor, Tom DeLay will lose his seat in Congress and have to return to a Texas where Chris Bell is Governor. With last night's news, it's looking like my friend might not be too far off the mark. I ask you to join me in the fight to clean up the culture of corruption in Texas. Together, we can build a better Texas and let the Lone Star shine like never before.
Visit Chris Bell's website and blog today to learn more about Chris Bell's campaign for governor and to sign up to join the campaign.