Congressman likely will win, but city still loses

We started out intending to make a recommendation to voters in the March 12 Republican primary contest for Congressional District 22, but it was unavoidably delayed -- probably in one of the bottlenecks along the Southwest Freeway leading into Houston from the heart of Tom DeLay's district in Fort Bend County.

That's probably appropriate, since DeLay has been a roadblock in the path to an easing of this growing gridlock problems.

Using his special-interest money, power and influence, DeLay likely will win both the primary and the November general election, but this is but one of the reasons why he doesn't deserve to.

DeLay used to be forthright in his irrational opposition to mobility options other than more freeways, but he has changed his tactics. He showed up last week, only a few days before the primary, for a press conference announcing a $13.7 million federally financed regional mobility study.

What was less discussed was that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison practically had to force transit study money down DeLay's throat after he tried to block it. (And this is not to mention the millions that already have been spent to study regional mobility.)

DeLay, the House majority whip, included language in transit legislation that forbids federal aid for any rail project in Houston. He has repeatedly denied the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority millions it has requested for rail transit, while at the same time giving tens of millions of dollars to Dallas, much of it for Dallas' light-rail system.