The Saga of Senate District 10

[flamin lib]

Wendy Davis resigned her Ft Worth City Council seat in August 07 and announced she would run for State Senate in District 10. That office is currently occupied by Kim Brimer, Republican, known chiefly for exploiting a loop hole that allows him to use campaign funds to buy real estate, a loophole that bears Brimer’s name.

After the November election Davis’ council seat was thrown into runoff and her replacement was not elected until December 15th. She then filed for the senate race.

Texas election law says a candidate cannot file for a paid office while occupying another. Technically Davis was still on the city council until her replacement was sworn in which would not happen until after the state filing deadline on January 2. Three Ft Worth fire fighters filed a challenge to Davis’ qualification for candidacy. They were assisted by Attorney Bryan Eppstien, who just happens to be Kim Brimer’s campaign representative.

The challenge was filed late afternoon Monday December 31st, the filing deadline was Wednesday January 2 and the Secretary of State’s office was closed January 1. How convenient.

On Wednesday morning Tarrant Democratic Chair Art Brender contacted the SoS which gave the decision back to him as Party Chair. Brender found precedent to allow Davis’ candidacy. Also on Wednesday morning Davis’ replacement was sworn in, freeing Davis from her seat on the City Council and allowing her to re-file for Senate.

The fire fighters then took the challenge to the City of Fort Worth saying that the replacement was not sworn in at a regular council meeting, but the city attorney refused to get involved. They then took the challenge to the Texas Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case on jurisdictional grounds, saying it first had to heard in appeals court. This Wednesday the appeals court heard the case and dismissed it on grounds that the firemen did not have standing in the matter.

It is likely that the matter will be appealed to the Supreme Court now that it has gone through lower court.

What a long strange trip it’s been . . .

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

1. I am of the tentative opinion that this must be good news for Wendy Davis. An incumbent like Brimer

only looks weak and draws attention to his opponent by trying to raise a lame ballot argument like this.

If Brimer was confident about his chances of beating Davis at the election booth, he would not likely have has his surrogates run to court to try to save his flagging campaign because this tactic has such a high chance of backfiring (if he loses, which he almost certainly will, his challenge makes him look like a whiner trying to deprive the voters of their say in the matter on election day based on an imaginary technicality which only he can dream up -- it changes the race from Brimer vs. Davis to Brimer vs. the voters' right to choose the candidate).

This course of action convinces me Brimer's (or his party's) polling must show him in deep trouble for him to resort to such desperate measures.

[flamin lib]

2. Brimer is not a strong candidate. His name recognition is almost

zero. Nobody knows who he is. Money-wise he had a $million in the war chest (minus the $200,000 he's paid his wife in rent for the Austin Condo). Davis begins with $270,000. Not bad for a first announcemnt. She'll need at least a $mil to run against Brimer and I hope the state party can help--ya' know Brimer will get some help.

Set your google news search for Wendy Davis and Kim Brimer. This could get interesting.

[sonias]

3. Eppstein sounds like a Rove protege

I just finished reading "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative" by Allen Raymond. This is exactly how republicans win elections. They don't try to compete on issues or god forbid actually care to represent their constituents. It's all about winning at any cost. While our candidate train to win 50% plus 1 to win by actually reaching out and touching voters, with calls, mail, block walking etc. Their side engages in voter suppression and legal challenges to side step all the rules. they can't win an honest contest at the polls, so they cheat, lie and steal.

What I found the most disturbing about this case is the fire fighters. If they are so pissed at Wendy Davis to be used as pawns in this game, how are they going to act in the election?

I'd like to know more about that Brimer finance real estate loop hole. That sounds equally bizarre.

Thanks for the update flamin lib.

Sonia

[flamin lib]

4. As a councilwoman Davis opposed the fire fighters when they

argued for additional collective bargaining rights. I don't know the details, but they were asking for rights above those granted to police and other city employees. Eppstein represented the association in that proceeding. Left real hard feelings with the Fire Fighter's association.

The Brimer loophole works like this: Law forbids elected officials using campaign funds for personal gain. It does allow them to use those funds to rent living space while on official business in Austin. Brimer's wife bought a condo in her name and rented it to him for more than $200,000 over the last few years. There were several other senators doing the same thing but they all divested themselves of the property when the scheme came to light. Brimer has not.

Other than that Brimer seems to have a very undistinguished career.

[sonias]

5. Now I know what you're talking about

Former representative Gene Seaman took that even further and claimed homestead exemptions on both properties he and his wife owned.

Texas Weekly
Volume 23, Issue 12, 11 September 2006
House of Representatives

The Ethics Commission doesn't comment on complaints, and it appears unlikely that they'll weigh in on this before the election. But in 1996, they were asked about lawmakers renting separately owned properties from the spouses, and they were pretty clear about it. That 1996 opinion from the Ethics Commission didn't address mortgages on properties, but it settled the property question: "A legislator’s use of political contributions to make a rental payment to his spouse for the use of her separate property does not constitute a payment to purchase real property and does not violate section 253.038 of the Election Code. Nor is such a payment a conversion to personal use as long as the payment does not exceed the fair market value of the use of the property."

Other lawmakers who turned up after the Goodman-inspired search include Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, and Reps. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. Gene Seaman, R-Corpus Christi, and Vicki Truitt, R-Keller. Each has a different story.

Sonia