Four for Bacarisse's job

With District Clerk Charles Bacarisse stepping down to take on Ed Emmett in the GOP primary for County Judge next March, someone has to fill in for him and do the job that he was elected to do. Four people have applied for the position.

Seeking the appointment are: Clay Cossey, director of technical services in the district clerk's office; Kenny Rodgers, retired chief of investigators in the district attorney's office; Assistant County Attorney Theresa Chang, who heads the county attorney's compliance division; and Clyde Lemon, director of legislative affairs bureau in the district clerk's office.

All four are Republicans; no surprise, since all of the district court judges, who will make the replacement selection, are also Republicans.

The county's state district judges likely will vote on the replacement at a meeting Tuesday, said state District Judge Mark Davidson, administrative judge for the 59 jurists. The selection, by state law, must be unanimous.

If the judges fail to agree on a successor, Gov. Rick Perry would have to order a special election to fill the remainder of Bacarisse's term, which runs through 2010.

That language is a bit unclear, so let me quote from an email I got from Loren Jackson, who finally received what should be a definitive answer from the Secretary of State's office regarding this point:

If the District Judges make a unanimous selection, that appointee serves only until a special election (for the unexpired 2-year term) on the November 2008 ballot. If the Judges are unable to reach unanimity, then they must certify that fact to the Governor, who will call a special election, that could take place as early as this November (if the Judges certify their lack of unanimity to the Governor by Oct. 7), but more likely in May 2008.

So, unanimous selection = serve until November of 2008, then run alongside Emmett or Bacarisse to fill out the term. Non-unanimous selection = special election either this November or next May, also to fill out the term. If it winds up being the latter, someone should send Robert Eckels a bill for the cost of the special election. Either way, though, I look forward to supporting Loren Jackson for District Clerk.

One thing I want to add regarding Bacarisse and Lisa Falkenberg's column from yesterday. I actually voted for Charles Bacarisse last November. The Democrat was a fringe candidate, Bacarisse had done a competent job as far as I knew, and also as far as I knew he did his clerical job in a largely apolitical fashion, unlike some other county officials I could name. Sadly, after reading Falkenberg's account of the bizarre and factually challenged demagogery that's passing for Bacarisse's campaign for County Judge, it would seem that I'd have been better off skipping that race, as there was no one running who deserved my vote. For obvious reasons, I normally don't care who wins a Republican primary. In this case, however, you can put me firmly in Ed Emmett's camp, even if that reduces by some amount the likelihood that David Mincberg will ultimately prevail. Put simply, I'd rather have a greater chance of losing to Emmett than any chance of losing to someone who believes what Bacarisse does.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 07, 2007 to Election 2008