Group declines to recommend Commissioner John Wiley Price for re-election
UPDATE: Stonewall voted Tuesday night to endorse John Wiley Price and three other candidates who weren’t recommended by the committee.
DAVID TAFFET and ANNA WAUGH | Staff Writers
A Stonewall Democrats of Dallas committee recommended endorsing Domingo Garcia in Congressional District 33 and Teresa Daniel in Dallas County Commissioners Court District 1 this weekend — but withheld recommendations in two other key races.
The committee’s recommendations will be up for ratification by the group’s general membership at Stonewall’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday night. The committee interviewed 57 candidates over the weekend from Friday night to Sunday morning. Several races didn’t result in a recommended endorsement because no one candidate received more than 50 percent of the committee’s vote. The general membership could still vote to endorse candidates in those races at the meeting tonight.
Eight of the 11 candidates for the new Congressional District 33 were interviewed, including former Dallas Councilman Steve Salazar and activist Carlos Quintanilla. Fort Worth Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks and state Rep. Marc Veasey were also present. But the vote went to Garcia, based on his record as a state representative and his efforts as a Dallas councilman in the early ’90s to overturn the Dallas Police Department’s ban on hiring gay officers.
Hicks expressed her support for the LGBT community, sighting her outspokenness after the raid on the Rainbow Lounge, which is situated in her district. She said her determination to improve the city and support for a fully LGBT-inclusive, citywide non-discrimination ordinance in 2010 brought criticism and led to her losing the seat of mayor pro tem. Hicks said there have been whisper campaigns about her being 40 and unmarried. She said she is a known Democrat who continues to push for Democratic candidates and platforms in a conservative Tarrant County.
Quintanilla spoke about his work with fighting discriminatory laws in Dallas among the Hispanic community. Sighting his past with fraud indictments back in Chicago for hot checks, he said he paid his debt to society and has risen to the activist and leader he is today. When asked how he would invigorate the Hispanic community based on low attendance at public forums he held before, he said he would continue to go door-to-door and reach out to Hispanic voters through social networking to engage them on issues important to them.
In the County Commissioner District 1 race, Stonewall endorsed Daniel, although each of the other two candidates had supporters among the membership. That district was redrawn to become majority Democratic although Republicans are expected to work hard to retain the seat being vacated by Maureen Dickey.
In the District 3 Commissioners Court race, Stonewall did not endorse. Micah Phillips, who is challenging 27-year incumbent John Wiley Price, was also seeking Stonewall’s endorsement. To make an endorsement, a candidate must receive more than half the votes of those members who heard the presentation of each of the candidates attending in that race.
In their statements, both candidates expressed support for the LGBT community.
Phillips, whose brother is gay, said, “No one should be treated differently.”
Price highlighted his experience on the Commissioners Court including chairing eight of 15 standing committees. But he got the biggest applause when he answered a question from Narvaez.
“Just give me a one-word answer,” Narvaez said. “Are you going to miss Maureen Dickey?”
“Can I use an adjective?” he said. “Not no, but hell no.”
But neither Phillips nor Price received enough votes to gain an endorsement. Voting was split and some members abstained. Abstentions kept either candidate from receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. One member said after the vote that he didn’t want to oppose Price because of his support for the LGBT community over the years, but didn’t want to endorse during the current FBI investigation into the longtime commissioner.
Openly gay District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons, a founder of Stonewall Democrats, is a Price supporter and was furious about the non-endorsement.
“There would be no AIDS services at Parkland without him,” Fitzsimmons said. “None.”
He repeated a statement Price made to the group, that for years he was the only voice the LGBT community had on the court and that he had always voted with the community. He said that if Stonewall made endorsements based on an LGBT voting record, Price deserved the group’s support.
The committee also didn’t make a recommendation in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, in which former State Rep. Paul Sadler and Dallasite Sean Hubbard are seeking the group’s backing; or in House District 100, the seat covering most of Oak Lawn that’s held by Rep. Eric Johnson.
In Congressional District 30, the Stonewall committee recommended endorsing incumbent Eddie Bernice Johnson over challengers Taj Clayton and Barbara Mallory-Caraway.
Other notable endorsement recommendations included out lesbian Sheriff Lupe Valdez over challenger Charlie Thomas; and Maricela Moore for judge in the 162nd District Court, in a race featuring six Democratic candidates who are vying to replace the retiring Larraine Raggio.
Read the Stonewall committee’s full list of endorsement recommendations after the jump. Today’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Ojeda’s Restaurant, 4617 Maple Ave.
2012 Primary Endorsement Screening Recommendations
Judge, SDJ-14: Eric Moye
DCDP-Chair: Darlene Ewing
Judge, SDJ-95: Ken Molberg
Cty Tax Assessor: John Ames
HD-100: No recommendation
SBOE-12: Lois Parrott
C.O.A.-12: Lawrence Praeger
US Senate: No Recommendation
Judge, CDC-4: No Recommendation
HD-102: Rich Hancock
HD-103: Rafael Anchia
CD-33: Domingo Garcia
SSC-6: Michele Petty
County Commission: No Endorsement
Sheriff: Lupe Valdez
Judge, 162: Maricela Moore
SS-23: Royce West
HD-114: Carol Kent
Cty Comm-1: Teresa Daniel
CD-30: Eddie Bernice Johnson
HD-107: Robert Miklos
CD-5: Linda S. Mrosko
SBOE-13: Mavis B. Knight
HD-110: Larry Taylor
HD-104: Roberto Alonzo
HD-115: Mary Clare Fabishak
5th C.O.A.-2: Dan Wood
CD-32: Katherine S. McGovern
Judge, CDC-2: Don Adams
5th C.O.A.-9: David Hanschen
So wheres the school board race? They endorsed people back in 2010, but when will that come? I’m guessing they think price is a great guy, get rid of that phony.
Good job… the Democrat establishment in TX has done SOOOOO much for the LGBT community. Be sure to keep endorsing those incumbents and pretending you represent the rest of the community.
What you failed to mention in your article is that Domingo Garcia had about 17 paid members of his staff who are not LGBT voting on his endorsement, he did this to the Dallas County Black democrats and they told him to take a hike, it has been exposed by rommeres Jeffers in todays DMN. While you mention my past that occurred in 1982 you failed to mention my leadership role in Farmers Branch, Irving, the Anti Cheese Heroin Campaign and the exposing of the 5,000 vehicles illegally towed by Jaime Cortez who was defended, financed and supported by Domingo Garcia. I think my record speaks for itself, PEOPLE VOTE, endorsements mean very little especially when they are tainted.
Here is the Article as it appeared in the Dallas morning News.
Dozens of folks gathered at a bar last week in the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas in anticipation of a good old-fashioned political fight.
And they came ready to persuade, not just with oratory but with envelopes of cash, providing a window into the seedier side of street-level politics.
The meeting was of the freshly reorganized Dallas chapter of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, once one of the most influential political organizations in the city.
Over the years, most of the political elite in Dallas left the group or let memberships lapse. It wasn’t until several young Democrats formed a new board late last year that the group started doing the business of politics in earnest.
Last week, members of the coalition were scheduled to vote on the board’s recommendations for candidates to back in the May 29 primaries. The endorsement is useful for candidates to list the group on mailers, hoping to spur older voters who remember the coalition’s glory days. And in close primary races for open seats — such as the new 33rd Congressional District, which stretches across Dallas and Tarrant counties — every edge is important.
Those in attendance anticipated a political tussle because at a previous meeting, the board allowed revision of a rule that required 30 days of membership before a member gains voting privileges. Some board members pushed for allowing a person to instantly vote after paying membership fees.
As news of the change spread, candidates who did not get the board’s recommendation came to the meeting, hoping to change the outcome. Operatives for at least two of the candidates came with money intended to pay the membership dues of supporters so they could cast votes.
In some cases, the envelopes had the membership fee and a little extra, according to one person who received such a payment.
It’s a typical use of “street money,” loose cash given to operatives by political campaigns to take care of the often gritty business of lining up political support. The cash flows in neighborhoods, sometimes churches and on the street. It’s a cherished tradition in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Dallas and any place with political machinery.
As the start of the meeting approached, the Coalition of Black Democrats treasury rose by about $1,500. That’s a lot of $30 memberships.
When the meeting didn’t start on time, veteran Dallas street operative Teddy Hawkins told me that the longer it took to start the meeting, the more money the group would make. Hawkins is not a coalition member and said he was there on behalf of County Commissioners Court candidate Bennie Brown, who is running against longtime incumbent John Wiley Price and others. Hawkins apparently came ready to buy an endorsement.
“I’ve got 15 of them,” Hawkins said, patting envelopes filled with money in his pocket.
A worker for Domingo Garcia’s campaign also had envelopes to pass out. Garcia was trying to wrest an endorsement away from state Rep. Marc Veasey , D-Fort Worth, in the Congressional District 33 primary race.
He’s trying to reach beyond his Hispanic base and appeal to black voters. He is endorsed by leaders such as state Sen. Royce West and Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins.
Veasey, who was at the meeting like Garcia, is trying to hold his turf in Tarrant County and make inroads to voters in Dallas. He said his campaign didn’t come to the meeting with street money.
For those whose campaigns did, it was a bad investment.
When the meeting started, coalition chairman Randall Bryant said the rules of the state-level group prohibited a chapter from passing a guideline such as the membership change. Bryant, the grandson of veteran Dallas political consultant Kathy Nealy, stood firm with fellow board members as the audience erupted in anger.
After some debate, the group’s full body rejected a motion to table the matter and approved the recommended slate of candidates.
The room exploded.
Peter Johnson, a Garcia campaign worker who once marched with Martin Luther King Jr., compared the treatment to how people wearing white sheets treated him during the civil-rights movement.
Political consultant Tanya Watkins, wife of the district attorney, urged the board to table the matter, even after the vote was taken.
And Anna Casey, the campaign manager for Garcia, blasted the board and demanded to see the state rules.
“It was an unfair process,” Casey said, adding that Bryant invited her to round up supporters and friends to pay their membership so they can vote.
Casey said she paid only membership dues and had 50 people in the audience.
Bryant, who has done work for the Garcia campaign, chaired the meeting, but the votes were made by the board and those eligible to vote. Bryant said that in the end, he had to act to preserve the local group.
“They did a great job and upheld the rules of the organization,” said Daniel Clayton, president of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and a Commissioners Court candidate who got the local group’s endorsement.
Bryant was under fire. Casey’s objections became so pointed that Nealy, also a Garcia supporter, stretched out her arm toward Casey and told her to knock it off.
The board offered to refund money to those who didn’t want to join the group after all. Two-thirds of the dues collected were given back. Some people got their cash back and darted out of the door, perhaps not wanting to give the money back to campaign operatives.
Price, who was part of the slate, asked the crowd to give the young Democrats a break.
“This organization went silent,” he said. “We at least have to give them a chance to rebuild.”
John Wiley Price isn’t a black Democrat.
He is a black DEMAGOGUE…from outer space.
Carlos Quintanilla has no big ideas, no innovations, no ability to pull others together to make good things happen. He is a cancer. All he can do is stage mock protests, rant, play the poor persecuted role, stage ineffective marches, and try to bring down other candidates who have more value to citizens than he has. Come back when you grow up and can gain support based on the positive things you have done, Carlos. Any voter who falls for you as their choice mistakes anger for effectiveness and deserves for their vote to be wasted. I’ll choose results over rants any.day.of.the.week and will gladly throw my support behind Domingo Garcia. I have a feeling he’ll take on the right wing and tea partiers in DC better than any of the candidates. Congratulations on your endorsements Stonewall Democrats. I’m impressed you chose to not be intimidated by the John Wiley Price machine, too. I still think he will win, but your lack of endorsement is hope.
Theses people must be blind and can’t see: https://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/04/former-dallas-county-jp-booted.html
I am in shock that the Stonewall Dems would even consider John Wiley Price or Domingo Garcia! I for one gay Democrat, will distance myself from any gay organization who endorses the likes! What an EMBARRASSMENT to the Community you are!
Sounds like Stonewall endorsed Garcia and Daniels even after stopping the alleged “street money.” I think Garcia understands how the machine works well enough to actually do some good in Washington and will support the liberal/democrat issues, including gay rights. Quintanilla just sounds like sore loser to me
Carlos Quintanilla posted a story about the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, not Stonewall Democrats of Dallas. The “street money” story has nothing whatsoever to do with Stonewall.
All persons allowed to vote in the endorsement screenings were paid members 30 days prior to the screening. This is required in the bylaws and was strictly applied.