Titanic II: Harris County Republicans
» Chron: Harris County Democrats say GOP fears voters (Mary Flood)
So, this is what running scared looks like:
Three Republican jurists in Harris County resigned at the end of August, just late enough so that their successors will be chosen by the governor and not the voters.
...
[Judge David] Bernal said he knew he was leaving for Apache Corp. in August and postponed his resignation three days until Aug. 25 largely because he thought it better to have a successor appointed by the governor that the voters could later approve or disapprove in 2010.
"We're probably better served by someone vetted by the governor than someone just on the ballot," Bernal said.
I gotta admit, today's Republican party is rather confusing. The platform affirms the party's belief in elected judged, yet here ya go ... a judge that flat-out states his disdain for the voice of the electorate.
Categories
Politics-20081 Comments
Leave a comment
Such resignations, by judges and by other officials, is an abuse of the state's election laws.
Remember when DeLay resigned and the courts wouldn't let the GOP fill the nominee spot on the ballot? Why? Because (a) it was the law and (b) the interpretation of the law by the courts was backed up by legislative intent.
So why, when an officeholder resigns and then admits they resigned after the date to allow the position to be on the ballot specifically so the date wouldn't be on the ballot, are they able to get by with it?
Because, I suppose, it's technically the law.
The Lege should seriously reform this loophole in the election code.
Personally, I think the resignations of these judges, and their remarks, make the law, at long last, ripe for a legal challenge.
The HCDP should find a lawyer who says they were going to run for that post when it was vacated, and sue. When an officeholder admits the timing of their resignation was solely picked to DENY VOTERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PICK THEIR REPLACEMENT, I'd think the courts would tend to frown on that.