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01/05/04  Domingo Garcia resides in La La Land - but not District 103
 

Just when you think Domingo Garcia can't get goofier, he comes up with a new twist on outrageous. Now, this long-time married man and father of two gorgeous sons is claiming to live apart from his family so he can run for the State Legislature to replace Steve Wolens in District 103.

First, I am a qualified voter and not only a legal but an actual  resident of Texas Legislative District 103.  Second, I am a Republican who will not be voting in the Democrat Primary.  That said, I meet the residency requirements to run for office in this district, and Domingo Garcia does not.
 

Here's another shot I can't resist taking at all but two of the Redistricting Commission Members.  With the exception of Rob Richmond and Corky Sherman, those people who were on our last city redistricting commission were the sorriest excuse for citizens we have seen in a long time. 

Princess Velveeta Lill appointed Mad Max Aaronson.  John Loza appointed Joe Thug May.  With the acquiescence of the rest who "got what they wanted for their neighborhood, Aaronson and May carved up Oak Lawn, East Dallas, NW Dallas and Oak Cliff to create dead zones where neighborhoods were split apart and stuck with areas where they shared no commonalities.  All so Princess Velveeta could keep her "artsy" friends with big bucks who live in Oak Lawn and Turtle Creek, and Loza could have an easy district for him.
 

Joe Thug May used a bogus excuse to create Council District 6 -- that most of our households have only 1 telephone.  Allen Gwinn asked if we gave everyone a 2nd phone would we have to re-district.  The audience laughed, the dunderheads who went along with Joe Thug May and Mad Max didn't get the joke.

Domingo Garcia had his hands all over the city council redistricting process. 

He now claims to have personally drawn the lines for the new District 103, which must be news to retiring State Rep. Steve Wolens and others who served in that legislative session because Domingo Garcia had no influence with any of his colleagues in the State Legislature.  If Garcia wanted something done a certain way, his colleagues would have likely done it just the opposite. 

Garcia couldn't get re-elected, and lost his seat to Roberto Alonzo, his former friend who he had stabbed in the back.

Never forget the ridiculous lie Garcia told regarding Laura Miller the Sunday after she eliminated him from the mayoral race.  Even his supporters were embarrassed. 

Now, Garcia claims to be a legal resident of District 103, and apparently the Dallas County Democrat Chair is going to take his word for it.  He has nothing else to offer, and Garcia's word is not worth much in Dallas.

Some of my older relatives have an expression to describe known liars:

That old saying fits Domingo Garcia.

As of last week, Garcia had not changed his drivers license from his ACTUAL 5th St. residence.   This comes up on the Dallas County Elections Department web site:

Voter Registration and Voting Precinct Information Name: GARCIA, DOMINGO ALBERTO Certificate Number: 01308229 Status: A Address: 500 E 5TH, DALLAS TX Your Voting Precinct is: 3501  You are in these other voting districts:  ? Congressional District: CD-24  Martin Frost  ? Dallas Community College District: CL-06  Diana Flores  ? Commissioner Court: COMM03  John Wiley Price  ? City Council: CYDA01  Dr. Elba Garcia  ? Justice of the Peace District: JP-5  Judges: Sepulveda and Jasso  ? State of Texas House District: LD-104  Roberto Alonzo  ? State of Texas Senate District: SS-23  Royce West  ? State School Board District: SB-13  Mavis Best Knight  ? Independent School District: SHDA07  Rafael Anchia  ? Water District:

Garcia's Dallas County Tax records do not show him owning any property in LD 103, and indicate he has a homestead exemption on the house at 500 E 5th.  Should we get that homestead exemption pulled and make him pay full taxes on the property if it is only one of his properties and not his home?

In Saturday's edition, The Dallas Managed News omitted Garcia as a candidate in LD 103, but Sunday's edition includes this slanted story:
 

Garcia, Anchia seek Wolens' post 10:45 PM CST on Saturday, January 3, 2004 By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News

Democrats Domingo Garcia and Rafael Anchia will face each other in the March 9 primary for the Texas House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas.    Mr. Garcia's name was omitted from a list of Democratic candidates for the District 103 seat provided on Friday by the Dallas County Democratic Party. The party issued a revised list on Saturday that included Mr. Garcia.    Mr. Garcia, 45, is a former state representative and Dallas City Council member and two-time mayoral candidate. Mr. Anchia, 35, is a Dallas school board trustee. Each man is a lawyer. . . . No Republican filed for the seat by the Friday deadline.    Mr. Garcia said Saturday that he had settled an earlier question regarding his legal residency in the mostly Hispanic district, which stretches from Oak Cliff to Love Field and into North Dallas.   "I meet all the legal requirements" for running in the district, said Mr. Garcia, whose wife, Elba Garcia, is a City Council member.  . . .

Here's what I sent to DMN's ace reporter Randy Lee Loftis:
 

Garcia's latest stunt is just wrong at so many levels.

Interestingly, Garcia has hired two non-LD 103 residents to work in his campaign, both use questionable campaign tactics and vote harvesting to help candidates who pay them.  One of Garcia's political hacks lives way north of Dallas County. 

Joe Thug May and his cohort might be very busy in the next few months.  They have some explaining to do about prior political activity where they ignored election laws.

More importantly, the new laws on vote harvesting require you to be a resident of the voting district before you can "assist" an individual to vote by absentee mail.  Also, it is a felony to pay someone to "harvest votes" or to be paid to "harvest votes".  It is unlikely Joe Thug May's cohort will work for free.
 

As I mentioned in my critique of ace reporter Loftis's efforts, there's another issue.  Are Councilwoman Elba Garcia and Domingo Garcia separated?

One of Garcia's hired campaign assistant was a volunteer for Ricardo Medrano when he ran against Chris Luna for City Council District 2.  Chris had a District 14 apartment in Oak Lawn, but claimed to live in an empty house in District 2 just west of Love Field.  A then very pregnant Dallas Observer reporter, Laura Miller climbed over Luna's apartment's security fence, knocked on his door and caught him in his pajamas (or something less).

The court pretty much ruled "home is where the heart is", and let Chris claim the fake residence as his home.  Luna's neighbors never saw a car there, and the backyard had 3ft high weeds, so he did not park back there (I took pictures).   Other than a bed and a lamp, there was no sign anyone lived in that house, but Luna and a couple of kids voted from there.  Much of the detective work for Medrano's side to disprove Luna's District 2 residency was done by Garcia's current hired hand.  So much for integrity.

Luna got away with having a fake address because he is a single man with no children (that we know about).  He could pack up at a moment's notice and live anywhere.  Garcia's marital and familia situation does not afford him that flexibility.
 

Garcia's got more of a problem than just not bothering to change his voter registration. 

One interpretation of the residency laws is that Garcia must have lived in his fake address 1 year before the next election, which will be Nov. 2, 2004 (1st Tues after the 1st Mon in Nov).  As late as Christmas Day, 2003, Garcia's family was living at 500 E. 5th St. in Oak Cliff in LD 104.  That's a month later than Nov. 2, 2003.

Then there's 141.001(a)(5)(A), which states:

... (a) to be eligible to be a candidate or elected or appointed to a public elective office in this state, a person must:
... (5) have resided continuously in the state for 12 months and in the territory from which the office is elected for 6 months immediately preceding the following date
... (A) for a candidate whose name is to appear on a general primary election ballot, the date of the regular filing deadline for a candidate's application for a place on the ballot ...

The filing deadline for this year's primary elections was January 2, 2004.  Doesn't the above language mean Garcia must have been continuously living at his fake address and not at 500 E. 5th St. by July 2, 2003?  We know that is not the case.

Then there's Garcia's drivers license, which he has not changed.  It shows his residence at 500 E 5th, where his wife and kids live.  Aren't most of us required to change our drivers license within 90 days of changing our residence?  Is Domingo Garcia exempt from state law?

See Mary Lou's comments below where he claims he moved last year to his fake LD103 address.  We suspect Garcia intends to violate the state's new "vote harvesting" laws, but is he violating another state law by not changing his drivers license to his fake address while claiming it to be his home? 

You would think an aspiring politician (Garcia is always aspiring to something) would do simple stuff like change his voter registration and drivers license.  He can always change it back after he loses the election.

One very wise political friend of mine says Garcia doesn't expect to win, he just likes the attention of being in a campaign.

I sold my Oak Lawn condos where I lived from 1983-2002, bought a house in City Council Dist. 6, moved all my earthly belongings and my cats and dogs and changed my voter registration and drivers license.  Still, the DMN questioned my commitment to the district.  My neighbors know I'm here to stay. 

What you want to bet nobody who lives near Garcia's fake address (wherever it is) has ever seen hide or hair of him?  That worked for Luna, but he was a single guy with no attachments.  Domingo Garcia has a wife and 2 sons.
 

Dr. Elba Garcia is not Domingo.  She would not lie about where she and her children live.  I don't know if she would publicly deny her husband is telling the truth about where he lives, but I doubt she would lie if someone asked her directly.  So how come DMN's ace reporter Loftis did not ask Domingo's wife where the family lives?

For that matter, where is Garcia's new residence?  Inquiring LD 103 residents want to know.

It all comes down to ignoring rules.  Domingo Garcia and Joe Thug May and his cohort have long histories of ignoring election rules.  If our authorities and the Dallas County Democrat Party Chair are going to let them get away with ignoring the rules, then let's just remove the rules.  Let's just have a free-for-all and the top vote getters win.

All of our concerns about public graft and ward politics resulting from a 14-1 city council have come to fruition.  Let's just do away with all the lines and let everyone have 15 votes.  You can vote all your 15 votes for a single candidate, or split them up.  Who ever gets the most votes is Mayor, the next vote getter is Mayor Pro Tem, the next vote getter is Deputy Mayor Pro Tem and the next 12 vote getters are the remainder of the city council. 

Same thing with state legislative lines.  Just assign so many seat per county on a population ratio.  Some rural counties would have to be combined because they are sparsely habitated.  Anyway, every seat would be at large and county voters could cast all of their votes for one candidate or split them up.  The top vote getters would fill the seats allocated to that county.  Of course, people like Domingo would claim to be residing in the next county over if they thought their chances were better there.

Garcia lost a very embarrassing election to Roberto Alonzo in 2002 because he was wasting his time and ego making a fool of himself running for Mayor.  It might not have been such a personal blow to Garcia had it not been a complete pay back for what he did to Roberto Alonzo a few years back.

To add insult to Alonzo's injury, Garcia then ran Dr. Elba against long-time family friend, Steve Salazar, for the city council.  Salazar only had one more term to run anyway.  Then they had the Redistricting Commission draw Salazar out of District 1 into the new District 6, so he could not challenge Dr. Elba again.

Steve Salazar had a tragic Fall and holiday season, losing both his father and sister.  Several people have advised DallasArena.com that Domingo Garcia used the funerals as opportunities to politic. 

Garcia is shameless, much like when he showed up at County Judge Lee Jackson's Republican Victory Party in 1996.  Jackson had just wiped the floor with Lordi Palmer's challenge to his re-election.  Garcia tried to convince some of the party goers that he was "conservative". 

Garcia thinks supporting sex clubs is "pro business", which makes him conservative.

Garcia is untruthful.  Garcia has no moral compass.  It is doubtful Garcia has any true political compass, other than wanting to be a big shot and a public figure.

About the only good thing you can say about him is that he married well.  Will Dr. Elba let him sully her own political reputation?

Will Dr. Elba stand by her man?