Will DeLay's departure quiet ethics furor?

WASHINGTON — Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's decision to resign his seat altogether gives fellow Republicans several months to distance themselves before the pivotal fall election.

But it's unclear whether they'll be able to shake loose from the ethical problems that were becoming synonymous with DeLay and had begun to pervade the party.

DeLay, the Texas Republican who earned the nickname "The Hammer" for his no-nonsense approach to leadership, announced Tuesday that he would give up his elected position by mid-June because he refused to "allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."

Known as a prolific fund-raiser who had built up incredible loyalty among the House Republicans he had helped get elected over the years, DeLay had stepped down from his leadership post last fall. Though he won a recent primary, he was looking at a more challenging general election contest while facing an indictment in Texas related to local election spending.

His ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and recent guilty pleas to federal charges by former aides were increasingly seen as liabilities to the GOP-run Congress.

Democrats, trying to topple the Republicans' tenuous hold on both chambers amid the widening ethics scandal, had begun to campaign against a "culture of corruption" in Washington.

There was no sign of them relenting that position even after DeLay's announcement.

"The Republican corruption continues to cost the American people at the pharmacy, at the gas pump and in their home energy bills," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "For more than a decade, every Republican in the House enabled and benefited from their culture of corruption and they must be held accountable."

For Republicans, DeLay's decision was "a positive development but not a cure-all," particularly if Abramoff continues to cooperate with federal investigators about his dealings with Congress members, said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College in California.

Pitney said Democrats could continue to make headway on the issue if other Republicans get into legal trouble.

"But DeLay is less and less valuable to the Democrats as a boogeyman," Pitney said. "I suppose they can continue to keep running against him, but it will be much harder to use him as a symbol of Republican misbehavior now that he's leaving.