Burnt Orange Report

Updates from Dallas County

By Byron LaMasters

News of Dallas County Democratic Chair Susan Hays's pending resignation has certainly been a topic of interest to readers of this blog. There are now over 60 Comments to my post on Thursday night. Since then, another letter has been sent out by the Concerned Democrats of Dallas County (PDF file). The letter urges precinct chairs to attend the Dallas County Democratic Executive Committee Meeting at 2 PM on April 2nd as called by the chair. The letter also disputes several appointments made by the chair. Former Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Bill Howell has weighed in on the matter as well over at Stout Dem Blog as has 100 Monkey's Typing and Off the Kuff.

More news can be found over at the Dallas County Democratic Party website. In Susan Hays's resignation letter, she appointed two judges to chair the credentialing table - Ted Akin and Ron Chapman. Chapman is a well-known Democrat from his 2002 congressional run. According to comments from my Thursday post (along with several emails), Judge Akin voted in the 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 Republican primaries. Thus, its perplexing why a Republican would be named to the credentialing committee. If this information is incorrect, please correct me, but it has come from several sources.

Also on the Dallas County Democratic Party website is a place where candidates for chair can announce their intent to run for chair. At this point, no candidates have announced on the county party website. A new chair may be elected at the April 2nd meeting, or there may be an election of a temporary chair for 30 days or so in order to give candidates the opportunity to campaign. The only name of a likely candidate for chair that I have heard thus far is precint chair and former judge Darlene Ewing.