Texas Congressional Republicans were big in the news last week, in D.C. and back home. Houston Congressman Tom DeLay got caught on tape at a church meeting telling parishioners not to send their kids to Baylor (where he attended before graduating in 1970 from the University of Houston) or A&M. DeLay said his daughter was shocked to discover there are coed dorms at A&M (although not too shocked to stay and graduate). He didn’t specify his objections to Baylor, although he recommended unspecified “Christian” schools where a student can get a “godly” education. DeLay later apologized to the Texas colleges and said his remarks were “taken out of context.” A possible Baylor context turned out to be DeLay’s expulsion from the school, reportedly for “dancing and painting buildings green.”
U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm is scheduled for retirement, not expulsion, but state Republicans still want to hurry him out of Washington so that Gov. Rick Perry can appoint state Attorney General John Cornyn to his seat and Greg Abbott to Cornyn’s — in theory improving their chances in the fall election campaigns for each office. Gramm’s office spent the week still denying that he intends to resign, although “if the right offer came along” he might consider it. The right offer is presumed to be the presidency of A&M, where the powers-that-be have thus far resisted the Senator’s legendary charms.
Question of the week: Why would Sen. Phil want to return to such an ungodly place as A&M? Must be those coed dormitories.
This article appears in April 26 • 2002.
