Dingus Still In?

Bill Dingus: So are his campaign fliers museum pieces or not?

Bill Dingus, the Democratic Midland city council member who dares challenge Speaker Tom Craddick for his House seat, might be off the November ballot. It's hard to tell. The Republican Party of Texas had been challenging his eligibility because he is still a council member: The Texas Democratic Party said he was eligible, and went to court on Tuesday to prove it, but lost their argument.

But doesn't this sound a little bit familiar? Didn't the Republicans try to get a Democratic council member off the ballot earlier this year? Oh, yes, Fort Worth council member Wendy Davis, challenging Republican Kim Brimer in Senate District 10 (technically, it was three Fort Worth firefighters, but their political consultant was Bryan Eppstein who also has Brimer on his client list.)

It all comes down to a 1964 Texas Supreme Court ruling, Willis v. Potts, that says no-one holding a lucrative office can file to run for the Lege until after they resign. In January, the Second Court of Appeals booted out the attempt to get Davis -off- the ballot, but on Tuesday the Federal Western District Court booted out the Democrat's attempt to keep Dingus -on- the ballot. Confused yet?

"The difference between the Wendy Davis ruling and what we were basing our decision on is a 1996 ruling is that, only in Midland, you can run for higher office without relinquishing your seat," said TDP spokesman Hector Nieto. In 1996, the League of United Latin American Counsel and the Black Advisory Council successfully sued the city of Midland over this ban, and the TDP was asking Judge Walter Smith to uphold that judgment. He didn't.

So does this mean that Dingus isn't running against Craddick? Not so fast. This just means that this TDP case asking for the '96 ruling to be upheld has been thrown out. The GOP asked for no redress, and the Dems are still looking at their legal options.