Key Point: JD Granger has a history of controversial political appointments at the behest of his mother, and Congresswoman Granger has not yet announced who she will endorse in the upcoming Republican primary between Governor Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry appointing JD Granger to try and get mother Granger's endorsement is not only possible -- it is very, very likely. The question is: would it work?
Last week, Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry -- who had served in the position for 36 years -- passed away in his home. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram blog reported the news last Thursday: Mr. Curry is likely among the longest-serving criminal district attorneys in Texas history, according to incomplete records from the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, spokeswoman Sarah Wolf said. According to the Texas constitution, Mr. Curry’s replacement will be appointed by the governor to serve until the next election.
Governor Rick Perry's role in appointing a replacement has everyone in Tarrant County talking: "The governor is going to have to think about his own upcoming race and what will help him in the long run," said Fort Worth attorney Greg Westfall, former president of the Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. "The fear is that it will be a political appointment, not a merit-based appointment." Perry will "appoint a replacement upon completion of the process of fielding and interviewing potential replacements," said Allison Castle, spokeswoman for the governor.
One of the major and most likely names on the list is that of Republican JD Granger, son of Republican U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger. JD Granger has a history of controversial political appointments at the behest of his mother, and Congresswoman Granger has not yet announced who she will endorse in the upcoming Republican primary between Governor Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry appointing JD Granger to get mother Granger's endorsement is not only possible -- it is very, very likely. JD Granger was a former assistant district attorney for eight years before, at the age of 36, was hired to run the Tarrant Regional Water District, better known to those in Tarrant County as "Trinity Uptown." The controversial water district -- and Granger's appointment -- is well articulated in an editorial from the definitely not-liberal Fort Worth Business Press editorial from November 27, 2006, "The Uppity Dumpties": The water board likes a close-knit familial group, as seen in its relationship with U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, foremost proponent of the plan, and her son, J.D. Granger. Congresswoman Granger has led the drive to secure federal funding for the project. J.D. Granger is executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, which was created by the water board to oversee development of an 800-acre commercial and residential project. Some long-established businesses, particularly on the north side of town, will be uprooted by the plan. Granger was appointed — without a search — to his $100,000 a-year job by the water district’s general manager, Jim Oliver. Following his boss’ example, Granger chose Eppstein without a formal search, and the authority’s board rubber-stamped the Eppstein contract.
Yes, JD Granger was hired without any official job search...and wait, Eppstein contract. That wouldn't be Bryan Eppstein, would it, the same Hutchison campaign spokesman that has worked directly with Congresswoman Kay Granger? Yes, yes it is. The blog Texas Watchdog ties it all together: For example, two years ago, he helped elect Jim Lane and Marty Leonard to the Tarrant Regional Water District Board. Soon after, the board turned around and gave Eppstein two no-bid contracts for crafting a public relations strategy for its half-billion dollar plan to redirect the Trinity River as it meanders through downtown Fort Worth. If only the back scratching stopped there. Richard Connor, who has skillfully dissected the board’s Trinity River plan for the Fort Worth Business Press, has unravelled the knot of ties Eppstein has to the deep-pocketed public agency. For example, Eppstein has worked on the political campaigns of Congresswoman and former Fort Worth Mayor Kay Granger, who just helped nail down federal funding for the project. And guess where the congresswoman’s son, JD Granger, works? Try the Trinity River Vision Authority, which was conceived by the water board to oversee the massive public works project. As Connor reported, the boy Granger turned around and chose Eppstein for a PR gig without so much as a formal search.
So -- the million dollar question, of course -- is Perry going to appoint JD Granger to try and gain favor with Congresswoman Kay Granger? Is such an appointment enough to over-shadow the fact that Eppstein, who has worked with Congresswoman Granger in the past, is also a spokesman for Hutchison? Or does Perry appoint someone else -- is the calculation that he won't get Congresswoman Granger's endorsement, and he would do better to appoint a different Republican that could do well in what will most certainly be a competitive race in 2010? And do the people of Tarrant County even have a chance of a non-political appointment? Or are they stuck in scratch-my-back hell for another public official? We know that Eppstein got smacked down by the defeat of Republican State Senator Kim Brimer by Democrat State Senator Wendy Davis last November. Tarrant County would seem to be rebuking the status-quo back-scratching that Republicans like Granger (both mother and son) and Eppstein have been practicing all these years. Does that matter at all to Perry? (99% chance the answer is no, but still worth asking). I don't know the inner-workings of the Republican primary race as well as someone who has lived and breathed Republican politics over the last few decades. I hope to gain insight from the Dean of the Texas blogosphere, Paul Burka, who is much more informed about the insides of the Republican Party than I am. Unless he's covering a Speaker's race, of course. (Ba-zing!) What will Perry do? What's the calculus? Feel free to comment below...
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