Tom Delay

All about Tom Delay

Tom Dale Delay, commonly known as Tom Delay, was one of the most powerful political figures in the US in early 2000s. Tom Delay (born 1947, Laredo Texas) served as a Texas representative in the US House of Representatives from 1985-2006.

Besides, he also served as the majority whip from 1995-2003 and majority leader from 2003-2006. He was a strong candidate to serve as a Speaker of the House till he was indicted on charges of violating Texas campaign finance law in 2005. He then resigned from the House in 2006 in the face of corruption scandals.

Tom Delay joined politics by a strong hatred of the government regulations which he developed as a small business owner in Texas. He was also a strong conservative who aligned which political activities that were supported by popular evangelical Christian figures.

Delay is also known for his mastery of political activities, especially fundraising. He assembled a big money-raising initiative that he used to help Republicans as the party took control of the Congress during George W. Bush presidency.

His Childhood

Tom Delay was a native of Laredo, on the US – Mexican border. His religious parents were members of the Baptist Church. However, his father, Charlie Ray Delay who was an oil worker was a violent alcoholic who was said to consume a quart of Scotch whiskey in a single evening. In a certain interview, he was quoted in Atlanta Journal Constitution referring to his father as a boisterous, domineering alcoholic.

His father was fluent in Spanish and also an oil field supervisor. This him move his family to Venezuela when Tom Delay was nine. The Venezuelan Cowboys showed him how to crack a bullwhip. Delay retained this skill years later when he served as the US House Republican whip and had an actual bullwhip in the office.

Growing up in Latin America had serious effects on Delay. For instance, a few times the family was involved in a crossfire as the leftist rebels fought the Venezuelan government troops. Delay even saw some of his villagers gunned down when he was of a young age.

On his official website, Delay says that the exposure to political violence during his young age was the key motivator to his ‘Passion for freedom’. He then grew to become an enemy of the left-wing regimes around the world.

In the US, the family finally settled in Corpus Christi, Texas. He schooled in Calallen High School in Corpus Christi. There, played as a lineman for the football team and later graduated in 1965. There he his wife, an athlete and cheerleader Christine Furrh. The pair tied the knot in the 1960 and had a daughter in 1972, Danielle.

He enrolled at Baylor University to pursue a career as a doctor. Tom Delay was involved in various alcohol related incidents and vandalism at the Baylor’s sports rival Texas A&M. As a result, the University did not admit him again after completing his sophomore year, and he later transferred to the University of Houston.

Tom graduated in 1970 and worked as a chemist for a pesticide manufacturer for three years. He spent most of his time mixing ingredients for rat poison. By 1973 he had saved enough money to buy a small exterminator in Houston. The business flourished but it also brought him face to face with government regulation in form of federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). He rebelled against taxes and paperwork required to gain approval for using pest control compounds.

Tom’s rage grew when the state of Texas decided to license exterminators. This made him join local politics where he ran and own a Texas State House seat running on a platform in favor of business deregulation.  He was then angered by an EPA regulation which outlawed Mirex, a pesticide which was very effective against the Texas invasion of fire ants.

Blogs and books

On 2006, Tom Delay started a personal blog. Besides, after joining Dancing Stars in 2008, a reality TV dance competition in which celebrities are paired with paired with professional dancers, he removed most of the political content in his personal blog and rebranded it to ‘Dancing with’ Delay.

In 2007, he published No Retreat, No Surrender: One American’s Fight. This book hand controversial claims, including Tom’s assertion that the Clinton Administration sought to have the military uniforms banned from the White House. This allegation was later proved false.