These aren’t good times for conservatives in U.S. Congressional District 22 (TX), Tom Delay’s old district. Which I happen to live in. We enjoyed having one of the most powerful and, arguably, one of the best ever representatives for so long that it is quite a shock to wake up and find that you are represented by a left-leaning Democrat. But, as they say, you play with the hand you are dealt.

So I decided to go meet Rep. Nick Lampson today at his open house in SW Houston. Quite a drive but if citizens are going to make a difference, you have to get up off the couch as they say. I’d never met Rep. Lampson before today and he seemed like a nice enough fella. The open house was from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm, I arrived around 1:15 pm. So, no coffee or drinks left, just a few pieces of warm cheese. Good thing I wasn’t there for the food! I waited in the line listening to a few people talking about how great life is now that Delay is gone. I got the impression that they didn’t really care about Rep. Lampson, they were just glad that Delay was gone. To each his own I suppose.

I finally get to the front of the line only to be bumped by a celebrity. It seems that Sugarland Mayor David Wallace was in the house and took precedence over the Bigjolly. Go figure. So I did the next best thing and asked them to pose for a picture. The picture shows, l-r, Sugarland Police Chief Steve Griffith, Mayor Wallace and Rep. Lampson. They talked while I waited patiently for my turn to shake the congressman’s hand. When I did, I told him that I was a constituent, we wouldn’t agree on most issues but if there was one, I would be happy to help him out. Turns out there might be, he introduced Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act of 2007 this week that sounds good.

Interesting that Wallace was there, he was almost the guy running against Lampson instead of Vote Twice. Looks like he’ll be running against Paul Bettencourt (if he decides to move into our district) and the Nutty Vote Twice in the ‘08 primaries if he can overcome a few ethical questions. Seemed like a nice enough guy even if he did use his celebrity status to bump me out of the way.

So, there you go. It’s either work with the congressman you have while awaiting the next election or waste your breath complaining about it. I’ll choose to work with him when I can and let him know that I don’t like his positions on abortion, taxes and a bunch of other things.