Joe Pool, Jr. Fails in Attempt to Win Election in the Courtroom Rather than the Ballot Box

Writer's Note: The following article about Texas Supreme Court challenger Joe Pool, Jr's. failed attempt to remove Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown from the Republican Primary ballot was originally posted on Breitbart's Big Government site and is a collaborative effort by Brandon Darby and this writer. It was an honor to have my first article on Breitbart be co-authored with Brandon.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE'S SUIT TO REMOVE PRIMARY OPPONENT FROM BALLOT DISMISSED

by Brandon Darby and Bob Price

Republican Joe Pool, Jr. is seeking election to the Texas Supreme Court; however, instead of campaigning, he went to the courts seeking to have his Republican opponent removed as a choice for Texas voters on the ballot. The Texas Supreme Court ruled against him on Friday.

Pool was seeking to have Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown’s name thrown off of the ballot for a number of alleged technicalities. Pool was doing so with the help of an attorney linked to the Democratic party. A district court judge in Austin, Texas disagreed with Pool and ruled against him. Pool unsuccessfully appealed that decision to the Texas Supreme Court.

On January 6, 2014, 201st State District Court Judge Amy Clark Meachum blocked Pool’s request for a temporary injunction to keep Brown off the ballot, according to a report in the Austin American-Statesman. Pool hired a Democrat party-tied lawyer named Buck Wood to help in his legal endeavor. Wood previously tried to aid Democrat Chris Bell sue his way to victory after Bell’s failed attempt at the ballot box to take the Texas governorship from Republican Rick Perry in 2006.

Pool filed an appeal of Judge Meachum’s decision to the Texas Supreme Court, the very court he seeks to be elected to, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. In the meantime, legal bills were mounting for the Republican Party of Texas (RPT), which will have its hands full this fall battling Democrats and Battleground Texas. RPT Chairman Steve Munisteri told the Houston Chronicle that he estimates the cost of the court battle at around $25,000. He said this is certainly money the party could better use later to support Republican candidates.

Pool and his lawyer claim Brown’s petitions should not be counted. Specifically, they claim that some were not properly dated and others were notarized by a notary whose commission had expired. RPT Chairman Munisteri responded to the Houston Chroniclethat there is not a requirement in the law for the petitions to include the dates that Pool cites in the lawsuit. Further, he claims there is a reasonable explanation for the improper date.

It is the RPT’s position that the Brown campaign has enough valid signatures and that even if it did not, the party told Brown that he did; therefore, under the law, Brown should be able to correct such a problem if it exists.

This is not Pool’s first run for the Texas Supreme Court. In 2012, Pool failed to make the runoff in a three-way race between himself, John Devine, and incumbent Justice David Medina. In an interview with Breitbart News, Brown campaign spokesman Matt Mackowiak said that the 2012 Republican primary was the only time Pool had even bothered to vote in a Republican primary since at least 2003; this claim was verified by Breitbart News through the Republican Party of Texas’s official voter records.

Mackowiak told the Houston Chronicle: 

"We know that the Pool campaign has engaged longtime Democratic lawyer Buck Wood so he can sue the Republican Party of Texas, depriving it of time and money they could be spending focused on defeating Democrats and Battleground Texas."

Mackowiak added: “They now want to take an absurd legal argument, which was already denied once, and attempt to win an election by lawsuit – a liberal tactic. It is shameful.”

This is Pool’s second attempt in this election cycle to run for a statewide office, having failed to gain any traction in a bid for Railroad Commissioner in 2013.

Breitbart News has provided the ruling for our readers:

Texas Supreme Court Denies Joe Pool's Attempt To Remove Justice Brown From Ballet