By Aman Batheja, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 16, 2006

17 Dec 2006 // You might think that Tom DeLay, the former House GOP majority leader, is taking it pretty hard, watching his Republican majority disintegrate in Congress, seeing his Houston-area seat go to a Democrat and last week watching Texas Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla lose to Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.

But no.

DeLay still defends his hard-fought redistricting plan, at the root of so many of his problems, saying recently in a published report that redistricting succeeded because it “made a political has-been out of Martin Frost.”

And what does Frost, of Dallas, a former Democratic congressman who represented portions of Tarrant County for 26 years, have to say about that?

“I look forward to the day when Tom DeLay gets to spend some time as a guest of the government,” Frost said. DeLay is under indictment in Texas on charges of violating state election laws, and his former aides and associates have pleaded guilty to corruption in the Justice Department’s ongoing Jack Abramoff investigation.

“There’s a very fine federal facility in southeast Fort Worth,” Frost, now a lobbyist, said with a chuckle of the prison in his former district. “That would be the ultimate irony.”

Political hush

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, must have had a lot to say after Democrats took control of Congress.

Edwards, who had planned to have two nodules removed from his larynx this month, had to delay his surgery after his doctor recommended that he rest his voice for a few weeks to let “minor inflammation” subside.

“While I had hoped to have the operation while Congress was not in session, I’m grateful that the surgery should allow a full recovery of my voice, which has been hoarse for several months now,” Edwards said in a written statement.

Edwards, whose district includes Johnson County, talked a lot during his recent re-election campaign. Now he has to stay quiet for two weeks before the operation and three weeks afterward.

“Now that would be a miracle,” Edwards wrote.

Armbrister the arm-twister?
State Sen. Ken Armbrister, a conservative Democrat who was often a reliable vote for the GOP in recent years, will join Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s administration after Armbrister’s 24-year legislative career ends, in January.

Armbrister, a former police captain in his hometown, Victoria, will become Perry’s legislative director, meaning that he’ll cajole his former colleagues to embrace the governor’s agenda during the 140-day session that begins Jan. 9.

“He knows how to work across party lines to get things done,” Perry said of his new aide.

Armbrister, the lone Senate Democrat to remain in Austin when the rest fled to Albuquerque, N.M., in 2003 in an attempt to thwart the Republican-led congressional redistricting effort, will not be asked to change his party affiliation.

For the children

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, was honored recently by the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas during an annual recognition ceremony for lawmakers.

Burgess, whose district includes portions of Tarrant County, was honored for providing leadership on issues that affect children.

“To receive this honor... means a great deal to me as a member of Congress, as a physician, but most importantly as a father,” he said. “Thank you.”