Dems for Dingus Back to Court

As if Speaker Tom Craddick didn't have enough on his plate with half the House gunning for his imperious seat at the head of the chamber next session. Now the Texas Democratic Party is heading back to court to make sure that their candidate for his House seat, Bill Dingus, stays on the ballot.

It looked the Midland City Council member was going to be off the ballot when on April 16, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith said Dingus was not eligible to file to run against Craddick because he was still on the council (The slightly mindbending bit here is that the case came about because the Dems took it to court to clarify whether an old exemption for Midland council from the state rules was valid or not). But as TDP spokesman Hector Nieto said at the time, the GOP actually never asked for any redress, and since Smith's opinion was only an opinion, with no order attached, it didn't really change anything. Now the TDP has filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, presumably to make sure that ruling can't be deployed against them.