The Hammer Comes Down: The Nasty, Brutish, and Shortened Political Life of Tom Delay

by Jan Reid and Lou Dubose

With The Hammer , Lou Dubose and Jan Reid track the rise of Tom DeLay from owner of a pest control business to unremarkable, and hard-partying, Texas legislator (his nickname was "Hot Tub Tom"), to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586484079
• ISBN13: 9781586484071
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Expose of How DeLay Worked!

One of the Republican reforms implemented after the 1994 takeover of the House was to greatly reduce the power of formerly powerful committee chairmen who had presided with baronial independence based on a rigid system of seniority. Now there is a six-year limit on their chairmanships, support staff have been cut one-third (limiting their ability to analyze issues), each party's study groups were eliminated (provided brief summaries of bills), and the Speaker has the ability to appoint/replace chairmen. This new environment provided the power vacuum for Majority Leader DeLay to grab power. DeLay dodged Vietnam service via student and marriage deferments. DeLay first ran for Congress after the EPA banned Mirex - one of the few chemicals that kill fire ants. This was particularly offensive to DeLay who had been an exterminator, albeit a marginally successful one. (The IRS had filed liens in '79, '80, '83 for failure to pay withheld income and Social Security taxes from DeLay's employees.) DeLay had been a three-term member of the Texas legislature (few remember him at that time) at the time he first ran for Congress in 1984. DeLay's first focus was the pornography and banality of grants supported by the National Endowment for the Arts - with a few others from Texas the result was an $8 million cut in their funding. DeLay was a heavy drinker at the time, but after seeing one of Dr. James Dobson's TV presentations he became very upset about now spending much time with his daughter, and he became a "Born-Again" Baptist. DeLay got on the Republican Committee on Committees as a freshman, making him part of those who allocate seats and can thereby cultivate favor. Upon re-election DeLay moved to the powerful Appropriations Committee, though that never was his real interest. 1994 was a banner year for House Republicans. Between Hillary's healthcare reform bill (supported by President Clinton, but massacred by insurance companies), Clinton's support for gays in the military (created upsetness among evangelical Christians), and the assault weapons ban (prompted the NRA to donate $70 million to support candidates to its liking), the Republicans took control. DeLay got into the practice of using his PAC to buy loyalty of members by contributing to their campaigns and providing training for political candidates he supported; he furthered his strength by also getting lobbyists on his rolodex to also help support those same candidates directly. DeLay became the Republican Whip, and selected Hastert as chief deputy. Moving further, DeLay started the "K Street Project" - lobbyists united behind the concept of freeing business from government taxation and regulation. (When asked, DeLay replied that he could not think of a Federal regulation he would keep intact.) Saipan (an American protectorate) offers an example of DeLay's regulation-free utopia - DeLay worked to prevent U.S. labor laws from applying there, leaving intact the practice of $3/