Hammer falls on DeLay this time

The Hammer has fallen.

Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who earned the Hammer nickname for his tough-as-nails approach to politics, announced Tuesday that he is giving up his seat in Congress.

Democrats, who have watched DeLay strong-arm legislation through the House for the past decade or so, must be somewhat gleeful that their longtime nemesis is gone.

DeLay was indicted last fall as part of a Texas investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence and said he is the victim of a political vendetta, but Democrats have been using DeLay as the poster boy for their "culture of corruption" campaign.

Last week, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials. That may have been the last straw.

The question now is whether DeLay's departure will give the Republicans a chance to reinvent themselves sufficiently before the November elections to avoid a midterm debacle. "The Hammer" thinks so, and he may be right.

Voters tend to pay attention to their current problems, not past politics, when they are marking their ballot. Republicans and Democrats both need to remember that as they make their case for election.

A mixed message was delivered in a recent opinion survey about a possible community center for Kalispell.

Respondents overwhelmingly supported the idea, but most people don't want to pay higher taxes to build such a center.

That's understandable, since taxes have already increased considerably to support school and college improvements, as well as other local needs. While a community center is a laudable idea, another tax increase is not. There may be other funding options available, and these of course should be pursued by an advisory committee looking into the feasibility of a community center.

Another concern is whether the proposed center would duplicate what's already offered at facilities such as The Summit or the Boys and Girls Club.

While in general it's a worthwhile concept, a community center here is far from a done deal.

Those of you who have eaten a meal at a Whitefish restaurant or shopped at any of the resort town's retail stores in the last 10 years have done your part to help Whitefish raise more than $10.4 million in resort-tax revenue. The city's 2-percent local-option tax was controversial when it began, but now it's the envy of many cities that wish such a tax was within their grasp.

The value of Whitefish's resort tax can be seen throughout the city, with newly paved streets, improved park and trail facilities and tax rebates for property owners. Four other Montana cities have similar resort taxes, and all report how the additional revenue has worked wonders for infrastructure and capital improvements.

Perhaps local-option success stories like Whitefish will persuade lawmakers to give all cities and counties the opportunity to choose a local-option tax and exercise some measure of control over their own destiny.