06.08.06
Democrats block Replacement of DeLay on ballot
Judge Darlene Bryne granted a temporary restraining order against Texas Republican Party chair Tina Benkiser from calling the first meeting of the Republican District Executive Committee to name a replacement for Tom DeLay.
In an email to bloggers, Susan DuQuesnay reported that the Democratic party argued that DeLay cannot be replaced on the ballot because it is a violation of the Texas Election Code if DeLay keeps his campaign contributions. According to FEC filings, DeLay has raised $3.6 million during the current Congressional campaign cycle.
The Democrats claim that to withdraw at this time, he will have accepted many of those millions under false pretenses. DuQuesnay said:
The Texas Election Code permits a candidate to withdraw. However, the Legislature attached a cost to withdraw after a primary. If a candidate withdraws after his party’s primary, the party cannot substitute another candidate for the withdrawing candidate. The reason for this rule is simple – the Legislature did not want the candidates duping voters into contributing money and energy to the candidate in the primary, only to watch the candidate take the money and run, not in the general election, but to the bank. So the law places the burden on the party in whose primary the candidate ran – in this instance the Republican party – to make sure that candidates in the party’s primary intend to and will run in the general election. If the Party fails to impose this discipline, the penalty is that the Party cannot insert another candidate into the race for District 22.
As usual, Burnt Orange Report has more.
Update: DuQuesnay’s blog, Juanita’s, has all the details.
Update: Here’s the Fort Bend Now story.
Update: Here’s the Democratic Party’s plaintiff’s petition (large PDF). We can now properly attribute the quotes above to the plaintiff’s petition.
Eye on Williamson » Texas Democrats at the Crossroads said,
June 9, 2006 at 1:29 am
[...] Boyd Richie earned major respect from delegates at the state convention after word of Thursday’s temporary injunction preventing the Republican party from naming a replacement for Tom DeLay began circulating at the Kickoff Reception. Even Maxey supporters were raising eyebrows at the ability of the party, under Richie’s interim leadership, to put together a defense team (that includes Chad W. Dunn and K. Scott Brazil) capable of building an impressive case and sending a message that Texas Democrats are going to fight to win. [...]