October 20, 2005: The Fall of Tom DeLay

October 20, 2005: Tom DeLay turns himself in, and resigns his post as Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Thomas Dale DeLay was born on April 8, 1947 in Laredo, Texas. He was an exterminator, and apparently he inhaled enough of his toxic gas to make him a Texas Republican. He served in Congress from 1985 to 2006, including 1989 to 2006 as part of the House of Representatives' Republican Leadership, riding the conservative wave with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich. In 1995, he was elected House Majority Whip by his caucus. In 2003, he was elected House Majority Leader, making him 2nd in rank in that caucus, behind Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.

In 1995, he co-founded the K Street Project, essentially serving as a bagman for conservative campaign contributors. (K Street Northwest, in downtown D.C., is to lobbyists what Wall Street in New York is to finance, and what Madison Avenue in New York is to the advertising industry.) In 2000, he was behind "The Brooks Brothers Riot," the guys in suits who attacked the Miami office building where the Dade County election recount was happening, and stopped it, thus helping to make George W. Bush President.

In 2005, he was indicted on criminal charges of conspiracy to violate election law by campaign money laundering. According to Congressional rules, he had to resign from the Party leadership. He resigned from Congress on September 28, turned himself in on October 20, and resigned his seat on June 9, 2006.

It took until 2011 for his trial to reach a conclusion, with his conviction. But before you could sing, "Hang down your head, Tom... DeLay, hang down your head and cry," he successfully appealed, and never served a day in prison -- a terrible injustice for such a miserable person. He now, don't be shocked, runs a Washington-based lobbying firm: First Principles, LLC.

*

October 20, 2005 was a Thursday. Baseball was between the League Championship Series and the World Series, which the Chicago White Sox went on to win over the Houston Astros.

There were 2 college football games played. Number 3 Virginia Tech beat Maryland, 28-9 at Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland. And Troy University beat Florida International University, 18-13 at Veterans Memorial Stadium (then temporarily named Movie Gallery Stadium) in Troy, Alabama.

The NBA season started 12 days later. There were 10 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 5-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 6-0 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-4 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto. Ken Klee scored the winning goal with 16 seconds left in overtime.

* The Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 in a shootout at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Dallas Stars, 7-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.