McCrery, a Republican, has represented Louisiana's 4th District for 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He appeared on the verge of becoming chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee in the current Congress until voters across the country elected a Democratic majority in the House.
McCrery won re-election in 2006 despite the fact that Democratic challenger Patti Cox proved that McCrery led a dual life: namely, the he is a Virginia resident masquerading as a Louisiana Congressman. In court papers challenging the results of their 2006 election, Cox demonstrated that McCrery was not a resident of the Fourth Congressional District at the time of the election.
Courts ruled that the decision on whether to seat McCrery was up to the Congress. In a rare display of bi-partisanship (prompted, no doubt by the fact that many other members of the House and Senate have similar residency problems) the House Democratic leadership didn't even address the issue and seated McCrery in this term.
McCrery, word had it, was tempted not to seek re-election in 2006 but had been lured into the race by the prospect of ascending to that committee chairmanship. Having lost that opportunity and, faced with the prospect of another campaign in which his residential orientation would be an issue, McCrery has decided that he can no longer live the lie of claiming to be a Louisiana resident.
He's gone public with his love of life in Virginia and declared his decision to live openly in the place he loves.
The Shreveport Times reported that McCrery claims not to know what he'll do after he leaves Congress:
He says he's unsure what kind of work he'll pursue after he leaves office.Don't believe a word of it! Technically, he might not know where his next office will be, but he knows what he'll be doing — and, probably, who he'll be doing it with. Does the name Breaux, Lott & McCrery have a ring to it?
"It's been a great ride," the 58-year-old said following a party for supporters at downtown Shreveport's Silver Lake Ballroom.
So, now that this is an open seat and all the brave regular Democrats will come barrelling down the up to Washington declare their fealty to any Democratic Party leader who will give them money, let's give credit where credit is due: Patti Cox's campaign to reveal McCrery's closet life as a Virginian (combined with the Democratic take-over of the House) drove McCrery to give up his seat.
She didn't win the election, but her legal case against McCrery (you can read the case filings here) inflicted enough damage on him that the 2008 race would have been more demanding than he was willing to endure — think of all the time he'd have to spend in Louisiana, for gosh sakes!
No, pretending that he represented the people of the Fourth District was just one lie too many for McCrery to carry through another election cycle.
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