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For use by Stonewall Democrats of Dallas
2014 Judicial Candidate Questionnaire:
(Note: Judicial candidates are asked to ONLY answer the Judicial
Candidatequestionnaire, and NO the Count! or "tate Le#el
questionnaire$%
1&'h! are !ou seekin the endorse)ent *ro) "tonewall
+e)ocrats o*+allas
I am pleased to have been endorsed by Stonewall Democrats of
Dallas (SDD) in
my last two judicial campaigns, and, once again, see the SDD!s
endorsement
because SDD speas for a community that is an important
constituency with the
Democratic "arty, both in terms of the community it represents
and the values of
liberty # human rights it espouses$
2&'hat are !our -lans to -artici-ate in a coordinated
ca)-ain in the
eneral election
I have been an active participant in the coordinated campaign
for the general
election in my last two judicial campaigns, and I have every
intention of doing so
again, even though I am unopposed in the Democratic "rimary and
the %eneral
&lection$
.& 'ill !ou use the "tonewall +e)ocrats o* +allas
endorse)ent in or on:
a%!our we/site
/%!our ca)-ain literature and )ailers
c% !our social )edia assets (witter, ace/ook, etc&%
d%!our ca)-ain ad#ertise)ents
'es to all of the above$
4&'hen elected, how will !ou recruit, retain, and create a
*riendl!en#iron)ent *or L and L3*riendl! sta**
o my nowledge, I am the only udge in the %eorge *llen +ourthouse
that has a
written # publically posted nondiscrimination policy of any
type, and this policy
includes se-ual orientation and gender identity$ udges have two
staff members. a
court reporter and a court coordinator$ /y court reporter is
very 0%1 friendly 2 her
youngest son is gay$ /y court coordinator is retiring shortly,
and I am currently
considering candidates to replace her, including members of the
0%1 community$
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& 'ould !ou /e willin to a--oint a liaison to )eet with the
L
co))unit! on a onoin /asis 5* not, wh!
3hile having an official liaison for legislative # e-ecutive
officials is a great idea,
with all due respect, it is not a good idea for judicial
officials, and would becounterproductive$ udges are ethically
prohibited from discussing the merits of
cases outside court proceedings$ herefore, there would be little
to discuss$ he
harm is that in having an official liaison, we could and would
be setting up a
scenario to be recused from cases involving issues of concern to
the 0%1
community$ 4or e-ample, tae the following hypothetical scenario
(which is not far
fetched). a samese- married couple (married in +* for e-ample)
resides in 5$
ragically, one spouse is illed in a car accident, and the
surviving spouse files a
wrongful death claim seeing compensation$ he Defendant files a
/otion for
Summary udgment claiming that the "laintiff has no standing to
bring the claim
because 5 law does not recogni6e samese- marriages, and,
therefore, the "laintiffis not a spouse of the decedent$ he
"laintiff responds that 5 law is
unconstitutional in this regard$ 7ow, the issues of samese-
marriage and interstate
recognition thereof are s8uarely before the +ourt$ If the +ourt
were to have an
944I+I*0 liaison to an 0%1 organi6ation, there is a high
probability that the udge
would be recused$ :ecusal decisions are made by the :egional
*dministrative
udge (a :ic "erry appointee) or a retired udge she selects (the
overwhelming
number of such retired judges are conservative republicans)$ I
suspect that SDD
would not lie to see me and;or many members of the Dallas +ounty
judiciary
recused from such a case$ I am always open to having informal
discussions with
SDD members on issues not related to the merits of matters
before the +ourt, but,
for the reasons stated above, having an 944I+I*0 liaison would
liely be
counterproductive$
6&7nderstandin that ad)inistrati#e )atters can take u- a
sini*icant
-ercentae o* !our work da!, what are so)e ideas *or -olicies
or
-rocedures that !ou think !ou can i)-ro#e court o-erations *or
the court
which !ou are seekin o**ice 'hat are the )ost i)-ortant -olicies
or
-rocedures !ou8#e identi*ied as needin i)-ro#e)ent
3hen I too office, one of my chief goals was to reduce the
enormous baclog thathad accumulated in the rdudicial District +ourt
(which had the largest baclogat around ?@A more than the average)$
:oughly >@ months after taing office, the+ourt became the least
baclogged +ourt, and remains among the most efficientstill to this
day$ o achieve this, I implemented several policies and procedures
toensure that cases have settings and do not linger on the docet$ I
plan to continueimplementing these procedures$ +oncerning areas
needing improvement, none ofus is perfect, and there is always room
for improvement, so I will strive to wor evenharder to ensure
everyone gets a fair # e-peditious hearing$
