Judge throws out part of Rodriguez's case in vote dispute (Texas CD 28)

MySA.com ^ | 05/04/2004 | Rebeca Rodriguez

[SwinneySwitch]

LAREDO — U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez was dealt a legal blow this morning when a judge denied his attempt to raise the issue of possibly illegal Webb County votes cast in his congressional race against Henry Cuellar.

But the setback was tempered by Judge Joseph Hart's ruling to allow another recount of the nearly 15,000 primary votes cast here — a process that is expected to occur Thursday or Friday.

The recount will move the issue of who won the bitter race for Congressional District 28 closer to a resolution, but Rodriguez's attorney, Buck Wood, said he still plans to appeal the judge's ruling on the rest of his case to the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio after the current trial ends.

Rodriguez, a San Antonio incumbent with seven years in the U.S. Congress, won the March 9 Democratic primary by a slim 145 votes. Cuellar, a Laredo lawyer and former Texas secretary of state, overturned the result in a districtwide recount.

Wood filed a lawsuit shortly after the recount, alleging that there were inexplicable vote swings in both Webb County and Zapata County that led to Cuellar's victory. He then amended his lawsuit to include allegations of potential voting irregularities, including people who were registered to vote at addresses where they do not reside.

Hart threw out Wood's amended pleading, saying it falls outside the scope of what Rodriguez claimed in his original suit.

----------------rrodriguez@express-news.net

[SwinneySwitch]

Recounts and appeals cost money!

[swilhelm73]

Geez the Democrats can't even stop trying to steal *primary* elections.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Hey, if dumb and dumber keep going on like this, I may end up with a Republican congressman, after all...

[Theodore R.]

If there were illegal votes cast on March 9, wouldn't Rodriguez be able to find them? I hope the courts do let him expose whatever fraud he can muster. Yet, I expect the case to be thrown out so that the Democrat certification of Henry Cuellar will stand.

[Theodore R.]

No Republican congressman in Dist. 28: the district is 64 percent Democrat, nearly as Democrat as the whole state of Louisiana.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Call me overly optimistic, but if the Rep. candidate can get his message out while they're trying to decide who wins, he might just have a chance.

[skinkinthegrass]

..Dumocrats Election = Voter fraud...it never fails. Stalin once said..."Its' not important, How many votes you have...Its' who counts the votes"...Shrillary and her DNC Lackeys/Bootlickers knows this. :)

[Theodore R.]

If the district were competitive, a GOP challenger would benefit from Democrat disarray. But this district was designed by Republicans to be Democrat!

[SwinneySwitch]

I'm betting any fraud came from the Rodriguez camp. The longer this continues, the more divided the demonrats become! Who knows, Henry Cuellar may switch to Republicano?

[PetroniDE]

I'm betting any fraud came from the Rodriguez camp. The longer this continues, the more divided the demonrats become! Who knows, Henry Cuellar may switch to Republicano?

Oh great --- another democrat turned Republican until after the election, then back to democrat again. We already have enough of those.

[SwinneySwitch]

"Oh great --- another democrat turned Republican until after the election, then back to democrat again. We already have enough of those."

Could you please name a few?

[Redbob]

Ralph Hall comes to mind.

[SwinneySwitch]

You mean Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX)?

I think we're looking for a D-R-D combination not D-R, Redbob.