Hinojosa .....
Posted on 01/14/2005 8:11:52 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
January 14, 2005 9:36 AM OPIELA WITHDRAWS ELECTION CHALLENGE! Details to follow
And related:
January 13, 2005 6:22 PM HINOJOSA SLAMS OPIELA OVER REMARKS ABOUT SOUTH TEXAS ELECTION FRAUD Toureilles files motion to dismiss HD 35 election contest A border senator has sent a stinging letter to a Republican House candidate who is challenging an election defeat, accusing him of "divisive and racially insensitive" remarks.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen) told defeated House District 35 candidate Eric Opiela to "drop the racial overtones and negative innuendoes" after reading comments made by Opiela's attorney in a Border Buzz story on Jan. 6.
Opiela's attorney, Austin-based Hector De Leon, fired back at Hinojosa, accusing the veteran McAllen lawmaker of "playing the race card." De Leon said Hinojosa had no business "meddling" in an election contest that had nothing to do with ethnicity or race and everything to do with voter fraud.
The war of words coincided with a decision by state Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles (D-Alice), the victor in November's open HD 35 race, to file a motion to dismiss Opiela's election contest petition.
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Republicans still don't seem to have grasped the basic principle: If you don't punish people for election fraud, they'll do it again, and they'll get more and more bare faced about it.
It used to be that the newspapers would jump in if things got too flagrant, and get some good headlines out of politicians being sent to jail. Everybody was happy and circulation rose. Now they wouldn't publicize if if the Democrats were caught manufacturing ballots on prime time TV. They'd just say it wasn't so, and nobody could prove it was so. It just LOOKED that way.
Surely a basic principle of Politics 101 is that when your enemies commit flagrant fraud, they should be taken punished so they'll hesitate to it again. If judges are that corrupt in South Texas, maybe the FBI could find an interest in it.
Texas House Ping!
Hinojosa .....
January 14, 2005 4:41 PM
DETAILS OF OPIELA WITHDRAWAL
But the allegations and war of words continue
Defeated Republican candidate Eric Opiela said today that he was pulling out of an election contest to overturn the Texas House District 35 general election result for family reasons.
Opiela, a Karnes City rancher and attorney who lost the election to Democrat Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles by 853 votes, said he also feared ongoing litigation from his opponent.
Toureilles, an Alice attorney, said Opiela's decision to drop an "entirely frivolous complaint" would allow her to refocus her efforts on representing the people of HD 35.
Toureilles said Opiela was likely influenced by a 30-plus page motion to dismiss the case, packed with exhibits and affidavits, that her attorneys offered the master of discovery earlier this week.
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