I spotted this story in the DMN the other day.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has called a meeting of an obscure commission charged with appointing a county elections chief, raising the suspicion that it’s an attempt to oust longtime Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet.
The County Election Commission, which county officials say has not met since the late 1980s, is made up of Jenkins, Tax Assessor John Ames, County Clerk John Warren, local Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman and local Democratic Party Chairwoman Darlene Ewing.
The meeting has been set for 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Fox conference room in the Dallas County Administration Building.
Jenkins said Tuesday he is not targeting Sherbet for removal but simply convening the meeting because state law says it must meet every two years.
“What this is to me is following what I understand to be the law,” Jenkins said. “All the members of the committee are free to nominate whomever they want to.”
Jenkins, who said the meeting would take five minutes, did not comment specifically about Sherbet or his job performance, saying it would be inappropriate for him to do so since he is county judge and Sherbet is a county employee.
The newly elected county judge, however, did not rule out that a vote on Sherbet would be taken at the meeting.
Neither of the two party chairs had any desire to make a change, according to the story, so the four-fifths majority to remove Sherbet didn’t exist regardless of what Judge Jenkins has in mind. In the end, that didn’t matter because Sherbet resigned later in the day. I know nothing about Bruce Sherbet and have no opinion as to how good a job he did, though clearly a lot of people liked him, I’m just noting this story out of curiosity over how Judge Emmett’s proposal for an elections administrator for Harris County is doing. I suppose the fact that the county is firing people left and right and is supposed to be under a hiring freeze would create obstacles to the creation of a new position. Still, I haven’t heard anything since Don Sumners’ post-election tantrum about the idea and the subsequent kerfuffle over his attempt to make voter registration more difficult, so I thought I’d throw this out there and see what happens.
Saw this on Google Alert, btw.
The system we have in Dallas County has served us well, particularly since both major party chairs are part of the process in determining the Elections Administrator. The recent wild and unecessary “kerfuffle” here in Dallas aside, it’s a system that has reduced the lawsuits and grumbling from Dems and Repubs for a generation.
I have written to the new administrator in order to get infos about voters’ registration cards. I have called the office to no avail. I am an American citizen, I have exercised my right to vote all my adult life. I am in my 85th year and I intend to vote in the 2012 elections.
Unfortunately the new registrar doesn’t care about the tax paying constituents of Dallas county. My attempts at getting some infos have remained ignored. I have sent him a certified mail with return receipt, so I know he received my letter. The proof is in my file.
If Mr. Pippins-Poole can’t do the job, perhaps he should consider resigning. He is violating an important priviledge afforded by our Constitution. Does he understand that?
This is an outrage and a contemptuous attitude toward a very senior citizen.
-Anne Brewbaker-