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Posted on 10/01/2003 5:03:21 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
All 22 constitutional amendments should be halted, she says
A Houston lawyer said Tuesday that she will ask a Travis County judge to block 22 constitutional amendments passed by voters Sept. 13 from becoming law until the courts resolve her lawsuit challenging the election.
Lawyer Valorie Davenport said it was illegal for Gov. Rick Perry to formally canvass the election results on Monday afternoon because she had filed a lawsuit contesting the election earlier in the day.
Under Texas law, she said, none of the amendments -- including Proposition 12, which allows lawmakers to set limits on some damage awards in lawsuits -- can take effect until her election challenge is finished.
"They cannot certify an election after you have filed a contest," Davenport said. "It stops everything."
But Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said the canvass was valid because Davenport did not properly serve the Texas secretary of state with notice of her lawsuit, as election law requires.
"The governor believes the certification is accurate and legal," Walt said.
The dispute adds another curious chapter in the legal and political battles surrounding Proposition 12, which has the distinction of being one of the costliest amendment campaigns in state history.
In her lawsuit, Davenport argues that state leaders purposely picked an unusual election date and drafted vague ballot language to "dupe" voters into approving the lawsuit reform amendment. Though it focuses on Proposition 12, the suit challenges all 22 amendments on the ballot.
State election law requires that challenges to a constitutional election be filed before the votes are canvassed. If an election is challenged, the votes can still be canvassed, but "the document announcing the final vote count must state that a contest of the election has been filed and that the declaration of the official result will not be made until the contest is finally determined."
Davenport said she filed her suit Monday morning because she knew Perry was scheduled to certify the results at 2:30 that afternoon.
Court records show that Kevin Patteson, assistant general counsel in the governor's office, was served with notice of the suit at 1:30 p.m.
Davenport said Patteson told the process server he was authorized to accept service on behalf of Perry and Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor, who are both named in the suit. Patteson did not return a call seeking comment.
But Connor spokesman Jonathan Black said the secretary's office was never formally served with the suit. "As of (Monday), we had not been served and as of right now have not been served," Black said Tuesday. "If you're going to serve the secretary of state's office, you have to serve the secretary of state's office."
Angela Hale, spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Abbott, said his office also believes Davenport did not comply with the law requiring proper service.
"The governor is not authorized to accept service for the secretary of state," Hale said.
Davenport, however, said that she believes giving Patteson notice of the suit satisfied the law's requirements and that she will now ask state District Judge Scott Jenkins to void the canvass and prevent the amendments from taking effect.
"I just refuse to accept that this is OK," Davenport said.
What a wonderful constitution! Wait.
Dint that already happen?
Sounds like the lawyers don't want this amendment to go into effect...I wonder why?
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How many millions of dollars did these twits spend campaigning against Prop 12? Anyone not knowing what the Prop was about would have to be brain dead.
Uhmmm, wait,.... that does describe a significant number of Texas democRATs (at least eleven of them).
What ever happened to reading and studying an issue and then debating it with friends, family, neighbors, etc?
I spent many hours checking facts on all 24 propositions during the election. I had a 3X5 index card with 24 numbers and my choices for or against for each one.
I stood in line for 45 minutes waiting to vote. I cannot believe how many people took the "sample ballots" and started reading the wording for each proposition for the first time while waiting in line. You see something wrong with this picture?
The surprising thing about Prop 12, was not much was put out by the media about how much the lawyers spent on defeating it. They spent better than 6 - 1 to defeat Prop 12 over the doctors and other groups to pass it. That was never put out in any news broadcast in the Austin area. I happened to get an email from one of the Republican activists in my city.
Just the thought of lawyers spending money to keep the lawsuits flowing and putting more taxpayers money into their pocket, was enough to make me vote for Prop 12.
Yeah. The Dimocrats did a poor job of telling their constituency how to vote.
My only disagreement is that they weren't "mooned". They were "butt-kicked".
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