Free Republic

Ciro wins one Rodriguez's re-election hopes alive; Cuellar to fight ruling BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Wednesday afternoon, attorneys in the drawn-out electoral battle between Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez received the long-awaited phone call from the 4th Court of Appeals. In a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel reversed the ruling of the lower court, stating the visiting trial judge erred when he did not allow Rodriguez to introduce evidence of alleged voting irregularities. The case has been remanded back to Laredo for trial although no date has been set. Just last week, Cuellar expressed confidence the court would...

Ballot recount begins in District 28 race BY LAUREL ALMADA Times staff writer The results of the U.S. Congressional District 28 recount are expected to be in later today, after the court appointed committee counting the ballots completes the process. The second recount began Thursday morning at the Webb County Justice Center's central jury room. "It's been going well," Henry Cuellar spokesman T.J. Connolly said Thursday evening. "The people in charge did a commendable job of organizing." U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez spokesperson John Puder shared a different opinion. "It's gone very slow," he said, adding that he believes the process...

Recount lawsuit ruling to be made in Laredo BY MATT JOYCE Associated Press Writer AUSTIN - Attorneys for Henry Cuellar Thursday accused U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of improperly "trolling" for ineligible voters in his effort to overturn election results after a recount of the District 28 Democratic primary. Cuellar's team made the arguments at a hearing as they began studying a list of about 260 Webb County voters that Rodriguez's camp identified as possibly illegal. Steve Bickerstaff, a Cuellar attorney, urged District Judge Joseph Hart of Austin to dismiss Rodriguez's lawsuit partly because Rodriguez failed to specify his complaints when...

Retired judge gets recount lawsuit BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO - A retired state judge was chosen Thursday to preside over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's lawsuit alleging vote fraud in two South Texas counties after a recount showed he lost the Democratic primary election to Henry Cuellar. Joseph H. Hart, a senior litigator in the high-powered Austin firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, was assigned the case by state Judge David Peeples of San Antonio, presiding judge in the Fourth Judicial Administrative Region. "I picked the person that I thought was the best person for the...

Hart faces new abuse allegations By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart was named in a sexual abuse lawsuit Wednesday, along with two other Catholic clergymen who had served with him in Kansas City. The suit adds new accusations to those made in 2002 that Hart vehemently denied. The suit alleges the three Catholic priests molested minors when they worked together from the 1960s to the 1980s. According to the lawsuit, some of the abuse allegedly took place at a lake home north of Kansas City and at church facilities, sometimes...