Burnt Orange Report

Yes, well Republicans like Sharon Boyd don't like Domingo Garcia. There's a lot of people that she doesn't like. She has a tendency for namecalling as well. For example, she refers to Ron Kirk as "Con Jerk".

Also, in the article you cite, Sharon Boyd says this:

Garcia subscribes to the theories -- "no press is bad press" and "say whatever you want about me, but spell my name right and use it often."

A local journalist opines Garcia sees all this media attention as good for his law practice. The kind of people Garcia represents like seeing their lawyer looking like a fool in public.

Maybe it's just me, but I read this as borderline racist. Who are the "kind of people Garcia represents"? Hispanics? Who? Is Sharon Boyd suggesting that Hispanics "like seeing their lawyer act like a fool in public"? That's shameless race-baiting on her part.

Sharon Boyd is a Republican. She's been very clear about it multiple times. Before the 2002 election, she wrote: I have never been in the closet about being a Republican.

It's interesting how most Democratic precinct chairs in District 103 support Domingo Garcia, while Republicans like Sharon Boyd support his opponent. Who should decide who Democrats nominate in District 103? The Democratic grassroots activists or Republicans like Sharon Boyd. It's a simple choice.

I don't see why anyone one of us should quiet our comments or statement if they are contrary to Byron or any one of the other writers here at BOR. Unless there is some unwritten policy that I don't know of... I understand that Byron is 'the man' of BOR but as far as BOR official endorsements go, would it not be best to have those be a collective decision? And if there are disagreements to have that noted?

Karl-

The only issue is that Byron works for Garcia and he pays for this site. If I write mean things about Garcia on here, he's essentially funding opposition advertising against his boss which could hurt him with his employers. I don't want to do that as I consider him a friend.

Byron-

Okay, whatever, I said that I don't like Sharon Boyd very much. You have launched an ad feminem attack against her and completely ignored the substance of the article. Garcia did not change his legal residency: he didn't register to vote in the 103rd, he didn't change his drivers' license, nothing. As a result, he is ineligible and most likely the courts will say the same thing. Furthermore, I think that you are reaching for some kind of racist attack when there is none. I read that as meaning that he's a bad lawyer. I think that you need to watch who you call a racist- if you are wrong it makes you look bad and reduces your credibility.

Finally, Sharon Boyd is right about a lot of things. I don't like Ron Kirk either- he sold out Dallas to a bunch of special interests while letting the infrastructure fall apart and siding with crooks like Al Lipscomb and incompetents like Terrell Bolton. I opposed the arena deal as a taxpayer-subsidized sop to billionaires. I hate the Dallas Morning News as it is no more, and has never been more, than an official propaganda organ of the reactionaries that have run Dallas with an iron fist for a century. She's wrong about some things, but she's right about this.

To close: in all of the posts I have put up you have yet to deny that Garcia was involved in vote fraud, in abuse of power, that he is a traitor to his friends and fellow Democrats, that he has kept company with known criminals, that he was incompetent as a legislator, that he does not now live in the 103rd district or that he is a small-fry want to be politico who gives us no foundation to build on for the future. The evidence is very clear about all of these things and so I'd appreciate to hear your take on these and why these things are cancelled out by the fact that he's more liberal than Rafael Anchia.

I understand that Byron is 'the man' of BOR but as far as BOR official endorsements go, would it not be best to have those be a collective decision?

Karl: I wrote this disclaimer in my post "Domingo Garcia for State Representative:

Disclaimer: I am doing some work for the Domingo Garcia for State Representative Campaign. I haven't blogged about the race until now, because I didn't feel like it would be appropriate to discuss the race on BOR while working for the campaign without a disclaimer. My comments on this website regarding this race are my own and should not be considered the official opinions of any other contributor to the Burnt Orange Report, the campaign or of Domingo Garcia.

So, in effect, I agree with you Karl, that BOR endorsements should be a "collective decision". I plan to link any and all posts which I make regarding this race to that disclaimer.

I'm not trying to prevent anyone from saying anything. I don't want to censor what anyone (contributors or commenters) says here, but Andrew pretty much answered the concern that I have with attack research posted here on BOR. In effect, I would be funding attack research against a candidate for which I am working. And that is certainly a conflict of interest that would get me in trouble. Basically, the compromise I made with Andrew was that if he wanted to post an anti-Garcia post, he could post it off of BOR and could link to it in a post on BOR. I think that that's fair to all of us...

Ugh. I wrote a long response to Andrew's post and I lost it on here... I'll try again tomorrow...

As for Sharon Boyd. I didn't call her a racist. I think that she used a racially loaded phrase that to some could be considered racist. You're the one going around comparing people to George Wallace... Back to Sharon... she's a community activist and has a following in some circles, and sure, she has some creditability on city issues and Republican Party issues. But I don't think that someone who is an avowed Republican has much creditability in telling Democrats who they should nominate.

Ok, as for the residency claims. I don't think that either of us are qualified to claim that we know that he is complying with them or not. It's a legal question that is being handled through the courts. All I know is that the case law precendent clearly supports Domingo Garcia's case. Bill Howell addresses his own experience with a similar case as Dallas County Democratic Chair in 2002:

Anchia and Garcia both filed for the primary. On January 5 Dallas County Chair Susan Hays wrote a letter to Garcia (care of his attorney, Democratic former Court of Appeals Justice Charles McGarry) that she was declaring him ineligible and striking his name from the ballot. That of course would leave Anchia as the only name on the ballot, guaranteed to win the primary. Her excuse was Garcia's old records from his former address. Those were no proof that he had not moved to his new residence by the required date, one year in advance of this November's election. In fact, Texas courts have ruled that only the courts themselves can decide that a candidate does not live where he claims. However, Hays had dropped the county party's longtime attorney and election law expert, Ken Molberg, and ignored what had happened just two years before.

In 2002 a candidate filed for Constable claiming he lived in a horse barn in the district, while actually living in another city. An opponent presented evidence of this false claim to me, as the Dallas County Chair, and asked me to rule that candidate ineligible. I did. He promptly sued and got the appeals court to issue a ruling that the Chair had no such authority, even if the claim was false. Back in district court, the complaining opponent had no trouble proving his case, and the candidate who claimed to dwell with horses was ruled ineligible by the court. I was right on the substance, but I didn't touch second base.

Even if Garcia had not moved, Hays has now made the same mistake. In fact, he did move, he has sued over this, the courts should rule him back on the primary ballot, and the voters should nominate him instead of his opponent from the east coast.

This ruling in 2002 made it very clear that the County Chair does not have the authority to do what the Dallas County Democratic Chair did.

As for Domingo Garcia and vote fraud in the 2002 mayoral election. It wasn't him that got in trouble for anything. Rather, it was an aide to Tom Dunning and someone with Rep. Hodge:

Mountin told me he does have one trial date set, May 13, for Felicia Petrie, an aide to state Representative Hodge. Petrie is accused of improper assistance to the blind in a voting situation. I asked if there was anything else cooking. He said, "As far as indictments, no."

And here's a last thought. The guy they were all worried about in terms of vote fraud was the Latino mayoral candidate, Domingo Garcia. He didn't get elected. He also didn't do any ballot fraud that anybody has discovered.

As for the 2001 city council race between Elba Garcia and Steve Salazar... it was a tough, hard-fought race with voter fraud accuisations on both sides. That's what happens when a race is decided by 40some votes. Again, no one was charged with anything... It's mudslinging...

As for being a traitor to his friends and Democrats... Domingo has always been committed to the Democratic Party. He's ran for office a lot and won, and has lost several times as well. But he's always been a solid Democrat in the end. His opponent has not. End of story.

Your evidence is not very clear at all, and I'd further address your claims if I didn't have to get ready to head out of town right now. I'll get back to it on Sunday.