DeLay still a bug man

This from the Austin American-Statesman:

Fighting Democrats, bugs alike

Apparently, Tom DeLay, the embattled U.S. House majority leader who has been accused of ethics violations, is not a "former exterminator" after all.

In a twist on the old-fashioned citizen-legislator archetype, the Republican congressman from Sugar Land is very much a dues-paying pest control technician.

According to the Structural Pest Control Board, a state agency that licenses pest control operators, he completes eight hours in training each year with HPC Services, a pest control company run by Darrell Hutto, his former partner at Albo Pest Control.

"Tom and I sold Albo Pest Control in 1994," Hutto explained in an e-mail. "When I transferred my license to HPC Services I also transferred Tom's. Since Tom would be unable to maintain the required Continued Education for Certified Applicators, I transferred him as a Technician so that I could give him the required continuing education for technicians."

Technicians require less annual training.

"Tom does not do any pest control service, training or consulting. It is more of an inactive status and mostly a symbolic tie to the industry that he came from," Hutto said.

DeLay's office did not respond to questions.

"It's always good to know a trade," joked Murray Walton, a field operations manager at the board.