"He who is faithful in a very little thing
Is faithful also in much;
And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing
Is unrighteous also in much."
St. Luke Chapter 16, Verse 10
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| Dan Sanchez(Brownsville Herald photo) |
In Sunday's Brownsville Herald, reporter Frank Garza walked lingering County Commissioner Dan Sanchez through several apparent Texas Election Code violations in his campaign for County Judge. A number of these indiscretions were first reported in Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun, but at least one in this blog. A search in the Herald's archives revealed no mention of the violations before today's article.
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| Judge David Sanchez(middle of pic) wearing "Dan Sanchez for County Judge" t-shirt |
One of the apparent violations involved Dan's brother David Sanchez, a district court judge, pictured wearing a "Dan Sanchez for County Judge" t-shirt. The Herald cited Canon 5 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which states: “a judge or judicial candidate shall not authorize the public use of his or her name endorsing another candidate for any public office, except that either may indicate support for a political party.”
Judge David Sanchez claims that before wearing a t-shirt supporting his brother's campaign, he called Seana Willing, the Executive Director of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Willing, according to Sanchez claimed that the judge's right to free speech trumped the judicial canon: “Certainly when it comes to political activities, you have to look at whether or not the judge’s free speech rights outweigh the states’ interest in regulating conduct to ensure a fair and impartial judiciary,” Willing said according to the judge.
That rationale renders Canon 5 impotent as a judge could always claim his right to free speech.
The Herald reporter also mentions a sign violation with the word "for" being so tiny that the reader might assume the candidate already held the office. Dan Sanchez claims no one ever told him the font was too small.
As to wearing a campaign button to a County Commission meeting, Dan Sanchez says he normally takes it off, but just "forgot."
Sanchez also theorizes as to why observers have mentioned so many alleged violations in his campaign:
"Not part of the establishment"??? An independent thinker? Lmao. There isn't an independent thinker in commissioners court. If there were they would have shot down the LNG tax abatements like their constituents want! They would look for diverse industry at our port instead of the low hanging fruit of LNG.
ReplyDeleteJim this is not a complaint, but an educational post. If you go to the Texas Supreme Court page and click onto their link for current laws you will find the penal code contains the following:
ReplyDelete"Sec. 21.06. HOMOSEXUAL CONDUCT. (a) A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor."
In the Johnson case the U.S. Supreme Court found 21.06 to be unconstitutional, but yet it remains on the books. This is common practice. Laws or Canons are held unconstitutional and the states leave them on the books, but not enforced.
In the case of Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht a special appellate panel found he had a constitutional right to endorse Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. The Canon is unconstitutional, but like the State legislature they refuse to take it out of the Code.
Robert Jenevien sued them in federal court and the court of appeals found he has a Freedom of Speech right to call a press conference in court wearing his robe and bash attorneys in a pending case.
Within the last few months an appellate panel found based on Freedom of Speech judges can post on Facebook defending themselves against unethical attorneys, or lies by citizens.
So yes it is on the books, but it has been held unconstitutional.
Again this is not a criticism - by using the Texas sodomy law which has been held unconstitutional but is still on the books I simply wanted to prove just because it is in the Canons does not make it enforceable or constitutional.
Bobby WC
I see a lot of fat adults who have spawned fat children. These folks don't miss a meal, do they. Can you say......over indulgent morons. Yes, that includes the children.
ReplyDeleteTime and Time again, Dan Sanchez says he is not at fault and is blameless but yet turns around and does the opposite.....and we let him. Is anyone minding the store, where did he get the email list? Hmmm....he is a county commissioner, right?
ReplyDeleteInteresting, what this seems to say in regards to the lawyers is that it is legal but not ethical.
ReplyDeleteDavid Sanchez wouldn't properly hear my child support case and broke federal law during it. He signs off on any order and goes against his own words. His negligence has ruined my life! I've been working for 2 years to correct the matter even writing him a letter and sending him the proper documents. Another corrupt official!
ReplyDelete