January 10, 2006

Two Candidates for Texas Legislature
Tripped Up By Constitutional Provision

High Court Incumbents Have Campaigns Derailed
after Coming Up Short on Signature Requirement

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Two Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature have reportedly been knocked off the March 7 primary ballot as a result of apparent violations of a constitutional provision designed to prevent state legislators from holding other offices at the same time they're serving in the House or the Senate. Capitol Inside warned last month that some House and Senate campaigns could be in jeopardy as a result of the little-known requirement in the state Constitution.

The disqualification of legislative candidates in East Texas and the Panhandle comes at the same time two members of the state's highest criminal court have had their campaigns derailed because they lacked a sufficient number of signatures to gain places on the March 7 primary ballot as required by a law that took effect in the past few years.

The first victims under Article 3, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution appear to be Conroe area businessman David Kleimann, who had been a candidate for months in the Senate District 3 race, and Amarillo's Anette Carlisle, a school board member who was challenging State Rep. David Swinford of Dumas in a Republican primary battle for House District 87.

While the legislative candidates were being deleted from the GOP candidate list for 2006, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Charles Holcomb's bid for re-election reportedly went up in flames when it was determined that he was one signature short of the 700 that are required as a prerequisite for a high court campaign. Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Price, who'd planned to run for the presiding officer's spot on the court, was apparently ruled ineligible for that race under the same law that tripped up Holcomb's campaign.

Candidates for the statewide criminal court and the Texas Supreme Court must secure signatures from at least 50 registered voters in each of the state's 14 appellate districts in order to qualify for high court races. There was speculation late Monday that the campaign of State District Judge Robert Francis, a Dallas jurist who'd filed to run in the GOP primary against Holcomb, could also be in jeopardy if a possible challenge to information that's required along with the signatures is successful. Ironically, the law under which Holcomb was disqualified was ostensibly designed to protect incumbents by making it harder for challengers to qualify for campaigns against them.

If Francis is taken off the ballot as well, Republican State Rep. Terry Keel of Austin would be the only remaining candidate in the race for Place 8 on the Court of Criminal Appeals. A former Travis County sheriff and assistant prosecutor, Keel decided to give up the state House seat that he's represented since 1997 in order to run for the high court.

The Texas Republican Party reportedly removed Carlisle and Kleimann from the list of eligible primary contenders late Monday - three weeks after a Capitol Inside report that warned of potential violations in the making under the constitutional provision that bars officeholders in "lucrative" posts from running for the Legislature if their current terms overlap with those they are seeking.

The restriction was modified by a 1992 state Supreme Court case to allow local elected officials and appointees to boards and commissions to run for legislative seats if they've resigned from office before filing for House or Senate campaigns. The term "lucrative" has been defined in court rulings and subsequent administrative rulings to mean compensation such as a salary or per diem expense payments.

Carlisle's apparent disqualification marks the second time that one of Swinford's primary opponents has become a casualty under Article 3, Section 19. Six months before its 1992 decision that effectively created a loophole in the constitutional provision, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Amarillo businesswoman Pattilou Dawkins was not eligible to run for the state House her term on the state's mental health board didn't expire until after she would have been seated as state lawmaker if her bid for the House was successful. The court determined that the MHMR post was lucrative because Dawkins had received per diem as board member. At that point in the campaign it was too late to remove Dawkins name from the ballot, but she received less than one out of every votes amid publicity over the ruling that would have prevented her from serving in the House even if she'd won the most votes. Fourteen years later, Carlisle had been all that stood between Swinford and a ninth House term.

Kleimann had been campaigning since early last year for the seat that Republican State Senator Todd Staples is not seeking again so he can run for agriculture commissioner instead. A businessman from Willis in Montgomery County, Kleimann had grabbed headlines last June when he accused Staples of using heavy handed tactics to try to persuade him to drop out of the Senate contest. Staples eventually endorsed former Texas Transportation Commissioner Robert Nichols of Jacksonville in the race for the Senate seat that he's held since 2001. Nichols resigned from his seat on the highway commission last year but has yet to be replaced by Governor Rick Perry.

Two other SD 3 candidates - Frank Denton and Bob Reeves - also turned in resignations for offices they held before filing as candidates in the state Senate race. Reeves gave up seats on the Sabine River Compact Commission and the Center school board to comply with the constitutional requirement while Denton resigned early from the board that oversees the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for the same apparent reason.