From Roll Call:

In a show of solidarity with the one and only Hammer, many GOP Members donned little gold hammer lapel pins and began hammering away at each other on the House floor. Fine, the last part didn’t actually happen, but they did wear their pins to the floor for votes to show some love for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) is responsible for hammermania. He bought more than 100 of the lapel pins and handed them out. “Tom DeLay is an outstanding man and a great Republican leader,” he told HOH. “By wearing this pin we wish to demonstrate our unified support of Mr. DeLay and the high esteem in which we hold him.”


Congresswoman Jean Schmidt has been sighted as one of the members wearing the pins. Schmidt has been a passionate supporter of Tom Delay.

As one of the recipients of Delay’s tainted largesse the Congresswoman received a letter from The Campaign for America’s Future asking her to “contribute the same amount of money you received from ARMPAC to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. We have enclosed an envelope for your convenience.” Schmidt was one of the twenty-six lawmakers that received the maximum contribution allowed from Rep. DeLay’s political action committee this election cycle.