Retired Texas Judge Gets Rodriguez-Cuellar Lawsuit

Laredo, TX, Morning Times ^ | 04-16-04 | Badger, T.A,, AP

[Theodore R.]

Retired judge gets recount lawsuit

BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO - A retired state judge was chosen Thursday to preside over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's lawsuit alleging vote fraud in two South Texas counties after a recount showed he lost the Democratic primary election to Henry Cuellar.

Joseph H. Hart, a senior litigator in the high-powered Austin firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, was assigned the case by state Judge David Peeples of San Antonio, presiding judge in the Fourth Judicial Administrative Region.

"I picked the person that I thought was the best person for the job," Peeples said.

Hart served for 17 years as the judge in the 126th District Court in Travis County, according to his biography on the Akin Gump Web site. He was appointed in 1982 by then-Gov. William Clements.

Hart's practice centers on arbitration, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, the Web site states. As a judge, he helped create an alternative dispute resolution system for the Travis County court system.

His office said he was not available for comment Thursday.

Rodriguez, a San Antonian who has represented District 28 in Congress for seven years, filed his lawsuit Wednesday in Laredo. The suit claims there is no legitimate way to explain how more than 400 previously untallied ballots turned up in Webb and Zapata counties during a March 30 recount.

Cuellar, a former Texas secretary of state from Laredo, netted 347 votes in those two counties, enough to erase Rodriguez's slim election-day lead. Cuellar now holds a 203-vote advantage in the district, which generally runs along Interstate 35 from San Marcos to Laredo.

The lawsuit, which does not offer any details on how any fraud may have occurred or who may have carried it out, asks the court to declare Rodriguez the winner of the primary or, at a minimum, to order a new election.

The Democratic winner faces Republican Jim Hopson in November.

04/16/04

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[Theodore R.]

In that this judge was a Clements appointee at one time, he may be "conservative" or even "Republican." Of course, Clements also appointed Chief Justice Tom Phillips, one of Texas's leading "Republicrats." I would not necessarily think that Judge Hart's personal political views would even affect this case, for it is one of two Democrats accusing the other of fraud. And the Democrat nominee is the 95 percent favorite over Republican Hopson in the fall.