Burnt Orange Report

March 14, 2005

Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher in Trouble

By Byron LaMasters

It's nice to know that Dallas County Democrats aren't the only ones involved in a public feud. The Dallas Morning News writes of the Republican quarrels on the Dallas County Commissioners Court:

Discord among Dallas County commissioners has grown so personal and vitriolic that some political observers fear it could hamper the county's ability to solve serious issues.

The four Republican members of the Commissioners Court publicly acknowledge the deteriorating atmosphere on the panel, which stems from an irritation over the leadership style of County Judge Margaret Keliher.

Commissioners Mike Cantrell and Kenneth Mayfield's displeasure with the judge has grown so pervasive they now routinely cast withering remarks her way during weekly court meetings and try to trip her up on the rules of order for moving legislation.

They complain that she works as a loner, neglects to keep them informed, fails to attempt consensus-building, and airs the county's dirty laundry in public for no good purpose when it would be better to solve problems quietly, behind the scenes – the way former County Judge Lee Jackson did.

Ms. Keliher, in turn, considers the commissioners' demeanor rude and unprofessional and says she's just trying to provide a more open county government and publicly air the issues of the day.

"I don't have any personal disdain for Judge Keliher," Mr. Mayfield said. "But she doesn't bring people together. She's out on her own."

The Dallas County Commissioners Court has a 4-1 GOP majority. Both the Precinct 4 seat and County Judge are up in 2006. The DPI (Democratic Performance Index - meaning the average Democratic performance) of Dallas County was 50.18% in 2004. The DPI has increased by about 1.5% each cycle for the past several cycles. The DPI of precinct 4 is in the high 40s. Dallas County is turning Democratic, but it is critical that we recruit a quality candidate for County Judge (an executive, not judicial position). My top choices would be 2000 Congressional candidate Regina Montoya Coggins, Former State Sen. David Cain or Former State Rep. Dale Tillery. One of them should be recruited.

Beyond that, Democrats are well-positioned to take back Dallas County government. The keys to taking over county government are winning a majority on the Commissioners Court, and winning the DA office, District Clerk and County Clerk (since we won the sheriff's office in 2004). I know that a top-notch African-American candidate has been recruited to run for DA, but the other offices are in need of good Democrats to step up. It is my hope that Dallas Democrats will be able to unite under new leadership in order to be victorious in 2006.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at March 14, 2005 05:57 PM | TrackBack

Comments

David Cain will _not_ be running for county judge, last I heard. His name was floated about this summer and, at that time, I understand he indicated he would not run.

I also think Coggins would be a good candidate, but I believe she's also looking at DA or a district judgeship within the county. I hadn't heard her name mentioned in context of CJ until recently.

And, just as a note, the position of County Judge is only all administrative in some counties. In counties without a court-at-law, the county judge functions as a court at law judge over the county court, but can only hear misdemeanor cases (Cs, Bs, and As), mental commitments, some juvenile matters, uncontested probate and small civil cases.

I believe, even in some counties with courts at law, the county judge still hears mental commitments if needed.

Posted by: Vince Leibowitz at March 14, 2005 09:13 PM

All the bad press the County Judge and Commissioner Dist. 4 have gotten is real good news for us. The County is the first order for the provision of health and human services as well as elections administration and from a policy standpoint very important to us. A democratic majority on the Court, or at least a Judge, would allow us to make progressive changes in HIV services planning, corrections and rehabilitation programs. It would also allow us to make Health & Human Services more professionalized - surely we could do alot better than the erstwhile H&HS director Betty Culbreath. And maybe we could get a consumer representative on the Parkland board instead of the Republican donors we now have.

By virtue of numbers we really should have 1 solid Dem commissioner District and one toss-up leaning Dem - but the 4 to 1 partisan ratio has meant 1 commissioner district with a huge Dem super-majority, 2 safe Rep districts, and 1 Rep leaning district.

The bad news is that when I looked at the 2004 numbers for District 4, they didn't change much from 2002 - it's still irritatingly republican. No Democrat wins the District. Mayfield may be vulnerable, but it's still a real tough race and the candidates that have surfaced thus far don't seem particularly strong.

Bill Hill, the District Attorney, has also gotten bad press. I've heard two strong candidates wanting to run - looks like the Republicans are going to have to program a lot of resources defending those two seats possibly leaving other local Republicans much more vulnerable.

Now if Lupe Valdez would kindly focus on the job she was elected to do, we'll be well set for the remainder of the decade.

Posted by: Gary Fitzsimmons at March 17, 2005 02:50 PM

Sorry for the redundancy - for some reason I just now read the last paragraph of Byron's blog.

Posted by: Gary Fitzsimmons at March 17, 2005 02:54 PM

I doubt Cain runs. Haven't confirmed it with him but I'm pretty sure he enjoys practicing law and doing some lobby work in Austin. I think you can say the same about Dale Tillery. But he would be a good judge as well.

I think Councilman John Loza will likely run against Ken Mayfield in precinct 4. I predict now that the Dems will win the county clerk position. The Dallas Realtors and other groups are pissed with Cynthia Calhoun. She may have opposition in the GOP primary.

Posted by: pc at March 18, 2005 11:06 AM

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March 14, 2005

Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher in Trouble

By Byron LaMasters