GOP will reap bitter fruit DeLay has sown

THE ISSUE Texas Rep. Tom Delay, the one-time powerful majority leader, has announced he will quit the U.S. Congress.

TEXAN Tom DeLay's resignation from the U.S. House removes an icon of corruption from the halls of Congress, but does not dislodge the culture of unethical behavior and influence peddling that is his legacy.

Neither does it erase the taint he has left on a Republican Party nervous about losing its Capitol Hill majority as Americans have grown disgusted with a legislative agenda that favored special interests and cash-bearing lobbyists.

For Democrats, DeLay's departure is both good and bad news. Good because they are rid of the one-time termite exterminator whose ruthless, arm-twisting brand of politics -- thus the nickname "the Hammer" -- was scornfully dismissive of the minority; bad because they have lost their poster boy for unscrupulous conduct as they attempt to loosen the Republican hold on Congress.

Though Republicans were quietly relieved, DeLay's exit does not acquit them nor their Democratic counterparts of the need for meaningful lobbying and campaign reforms.

DeLay quit the House just days after the second of his former aides pleaded guilty to corruption charges tied to fallen GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whom he once described as one of his "dearest friends."

It is not DeLay's first close encounter with scandal. He had been admonished three times for breaches of ethics, albeit reluctantly, by his erstwhile House colleagues. His indictment on money-laundering charges in his home state forced him from his majority leader seat. He has gamed campaign finance laws, building a network of political action committees, nonprofit foundations and organizations that raised and used funds for shadowy purposes.

But it is the fallout from the Abramoff scandal that remains a looming threat for Republicans as midterm elections near. DeLay himself might escape the web. However, those who helped and enabled him to build his corrosive power house might feel the hammer's blows.