Davis Wins Challenge in Appeals Court

Tarrant County native Wendy Davis is free to continue her run for Senate District 10 against incumbent Kim Brimer (R-Fort Worth.)

Matt Angle, of the Lone Star Project, issued a statement after the ruling:

Today, the Texas 2nd District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth rejected an effort by allies of State Senator Kim Brimer to remove former Fort Worth City Councilwoman, Wendy Davis as his Democratic opponent in November. For several weeks, Brimer has been engaged in a frantic scramble of administrative and legal maneuvers to avoid facing Davis and allowing Senate District 10 voters a choice next November.

The merits of the case clearly favor Wendy Davis who, in keeping with State Law, resigned her post on the Fort Worth City Council in order to seek the Senate District 10 seat (See Lone Star Project Report and copy of Democratic Party brief here). Ironically, however, Kim Brimer’s sneaky tactical maneuver whereby he sought to hide his personal involvement in the case by enlisting surrogates to file the complaint on his behalf, gave the Court an easy avenue to deny the claim. Brimer’s "hide and watch" strategy backfired when the Court threw out the case ruling that Brimer surrogates do not have standing and that only Brimer himself can make a legal challenge of this type.

Unfortunately, no one seems to think this will be the end of it. The FWST hints that the firefighters may appeal the ruling.

West and Clear reminds us why the firefighters might have a dog in this hunt.

Does that mean the firefighters won’t appeal? No. Does that mean that Brimer won’t jump in and file suit? No. However, if that happened, it would sort of undermine the position that these three “Democratic” firefighters were acting on behalf of fellow District 10 Democrats. Of course, the fact that the firefighters have already endorsed Brimer and the fact that the firefighters’ union paid Brimer’s consultant Bryan Eppstein $224,000 for his assistance in their collective bargaining campaign would seem to undermine the firefighters’ credibility anyway. Now, $224,000 isn’t exactly Kay Granger kinda money, but it ain’t chump change. Those firefighters must need to pass the boot around a bunch of times to raise that kind of money.

In the meantime, the Davis campaign can be thankful for weeks of free publicity. By contrast, Brimer looks almost desperate. We can't blame him. You'd be worried, too, if you were running against a candidate with Hollywood good looks and a degree from Harvard Law, an experienced public servant known for her honesty and "raw political courage."

Aman Betheja has a complete rundown of the testimony at the FWST's political blog, Politex.

Also at Capitol Annex, Burnt Orange Report, Job's Anger, and McBlogger.