Im eager to find

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I’m eager to find out more about who in the GOP caucus was for and who was against the “DeLay rule” — the new rule allowing Tom DeLay (R-TX) and future indictees to continue in their House leadership roles after being indicted.

Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut seems to be the only Republican who says he didn’t support the move when it was put to a voice vote today. And he says he was one of only a “handful” of Republican House members who also spoke out against the change in today’s closed door meeting.

Here’s my question. And it’s a genuine question since I don’t know the answer. Does the Republican caucus currently have a rule which would force DeLay to relinquish his post after conviction if he remains free on appeal?

The earlier rule would have made such a rule superfluous since any leadership office had to be surrendered on indictment. But with that changed, is there such a rule? And if not, does the GOP caucus plan on imposing one?

And in the interest of completeness, is there any stage in the criminal justice process when a GOP caucus member in a leadership office has to resign his post? If the judge sentences DeLay to wearing one of those radio beacon collars around his ankle so that he doesn’t leave the vicinity of the Capitol, could he continue as leader then too? Or would that be too much?

An extreme scenario, I grant you, but as long as we’re plumbing the depths …

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