3/17/10  Dallas still has some real men.

In a town where "go along to get along" is the highest virtue, it's always disconcerting to Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) when someone refuses to go quietly into the night.  Both County Judge Jim Foster and Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda lost in the Democrat's primary, and both are ready to expose some dirty laundry.

In the eyes of the ODB, you are not supposed to expose the city's dark side, whether it's polluted neighborhoods or campaign corruption.  You are not supposed to challenge the Southern Sector oligarchy run by Senator Royce West and Commissioner John Wiley Price.  

In the past few months, we have seen courage from an unlikely source -- County Judge Jim Foster.   He seemed such milk toast and was expected to be under Commissioner Price's thumb.  Things didn't work out like anyone expected at the Commissioner's Court.  Not only has Jim Foster stymied Price at almost every turn, he refuses to be a "good sport" with his loss in the Democrat's primary.

Luis Sepulveda has always been a fighter who has never worried about being a "good sport" if something needs to be fixed.  He was a major voice in keeping attention on the lead pollution in West Dallas.  The ODB wanted the issue to go away, but Luis Sepulveda was more concerned about fixing the problem than protecting the city's image.  He was loud and often rude, but he was effective.  I was on his side, and it was still hard to take him.  If those mail vote harvesters thought he was going to let them get away with stealing his election, they haven't known Luis Sepulveda as long as I have.

For way too many years, we have had elections stolen in minority-dominant districts by mail ballot harvesting (voter fraud).  John Loza's successful council race against Brenda Reyes was the first time I was ever aware of mail vote harvesting.  Loza's 150 vote winning margin was exactly the number of mail ballot votes Joe May delivered for him.   I still didn't understand what was going on until Joe May explained his process to a friend of mine who considered a council race several years ago.

Of course, it is now illegal  to take money for "harvesting" mail vote ballots, and it is now illegal  to pay someone for "harvesting" mail vote ballots.  Only problem with that -- who's going to enforce the law?  Not our Bail Bondsman DA! 

Let me tell you about mail ballot harvesting.  It is absolutely an exploitation of senior voters in particular, and minority voters in general. 

In many cases, paid thugs turn in an application for a mail-in ballot, and the actual voter has no knowledge of it.  When the ballot shows up, the paid thug is there to "assist" the voter.  The thug is there because he knows when the application was submitted to the Elections Department and when the ballot is required to be mailed to the voter.  When a thug shows up at the door of a senior voter and demands to "assist" the voter, many (if not most) of the seniors approached will give up their ballot to the thug.  Additionally, a majority of the seniors targeted by mail vote harvesting thugs are minority voters.

It was very dumb of the vote harvester gangs to pick on Luis Sepulveda.  It was very good for future honest elections that he was victimized by election fraud.  Judge Sepulveda is going after the bad guys.  He's not one who needs instant gratification. 

Luis Sepulveda demonstrated patience and perseverance when he fought powerful forces to rid West Dallas of the lead pollution left from the smelters.  He lost more battles than he won -- but he kept going and going and going.

It probably has always been necessary for the whole mail vote harvesting scam to be blown up by an Hispanic or African-American elected official.  It is Hispanic and Black Senior voters who are most targeted by the mail vote harvesting thugs. Judge Sepulveda has a new mission, and he's already started.  Dallas protesters picket over alleged voter fraud  (By Brett Shipp, WFAA.com, 3/9/10).

A few days ago, a political consultant actually told me Hispanic voters "like" to be helped, to have things done for them.  "The soft bigotry of low expectations" immediately came to mind when I heard that.  Clearly, the consultant doesn't think Hispanic voters can think or do for themselves.  I feel just the opposite.  If someone doesn't want to bother to vote, then nothing should be done for or against that voter.  As an adult, the voter has the right to abstain. 

I don't think it should be easy to vote.  It's a privilege and a duty. 

By the same token, I don't understand the opposition to photo ID requirements at the polls.  Other countries demand much more identity proof than the U.S.  Ironically, the same people who don't want voters to have to show photo ID to vote are pushing for a national worker ID card.  You can be sure that card will have your picture on it.

Mail ballot harvesting works best in lower income areas and small races -- city council, JP, etc. where 100 votes can win an election.  It's not so successful in city wide races or affluent districts with large turnouts of voters.

When Ron Kirk resigned his reign of terror as Mayor to run for the Senate against John Cornyn, a large group of candidates ran for Mayor.  The major players were Laura Miller, Tom Dunning and Domingo Garcia.  At a Northwest Dallas debate, I asked all of them to take a pledge to not allow their campaigns to participate in mail vote harvesting.  Miller immediately agreed.  Dunning didn't seem to understand what I was talking about, but agreed because Miller had.  Domingo Garcia got very defensive and would not take the pledge. 

In any campaign where Domingo Garcia has an interest in the outcome, there will be mail ballot harvesting.  

County Judge Jim Foster and JP Sepulveda are determined to stop election fraud while they are still in office.  There's a lot of time between now and January, 2011 for these two elected officials to expose the bad guys.  They have nothing to lose.

The bad guys are shaking in their boots. 

It looks like the Democrats have a problem in the County Judge race.  Their anointed candidate, Clay Jenkins, has major residency questions.  Who is Clay Jenkins? We'd Like to Know Too, But He Ain't Talkin'.  (By Sam Merten, DallasObserver.com, 3/12/10).  His opponent, Larry Duncan, is not well loved.  Democrats may be able to unite behind Duncan, but not enthusiastically.  If Jenkins wins the runoff, Republicans most definitely will make an issue of his having voted in Ellis County so recently.  If Duncan wins the runoff, Republicans will also have lots of ammunition.

Thanks to excessive questionable campaign tactics by their opponents, two powerful politicians lost their offices and are now on a crusade to clean up Dallas County elections.

Going to be an interesting campaign season. 

sb