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Minton to represent Simmons in Bell campaign suit
By AUDREY M. MARKS
Austin lawyer Roy Q. Minton will represent Democratic candidate Stephanie E. Simmons, the candidate Democrat Chris Bell is asking courts to toss from the special election ballot in November.
Minton, an attorney with Minton, Burton, Foster & Collins, has been enlisted for numerous political suits, including the Texas Association of Businesses who go to trial Nov. 10 on charges of making illegal corporate donations and violating election laws in 2002.
Calls for comment to Minton about Simmons case were not returned.
According to court documents, Bell is arguing Simmons does not meet the residency requirements to run for state Senate district 17.
State law requires Senate candidates to live in the district they are running to represent for a year.
An emergency hearing is scheduled in Travis County Monday.
Bell’s campaign has referred to Simmons as a phantom Democrat.
“I am very concerned that she may well be the Republican pawn we've heard would be coming to force a runoff,” State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said in a statement. “This is a desperate attempt to keep Senate District 17 in Republican hands.
Bell and Simmons are the two Democrats in a six-person race to finish the term of former Sen. Kyle Janek who resigned in May to join Biophysical Corporation as their vice president of business development.
The four Republicans include: Kennith “Ken” Sherman, a Lake Jackson engineer; Joan Huffman, former Harris County District Court Judge and Southside Place resident; Grant Harpold, a Braeswood Place lawyer; Austin Furse, who served as a policy advisor to former President George H. W. Bush and lives in West University Place.
The candidate who wins the majority of the vote will finish Janek’s term set to expire January 2011.
If no candidate can net more than 50 percent of the vote the top two finishers will face off in a run off that is yet to be scheduled.
Minton, an attorney with Minton, Burton, Foster & Collins, has been enlisted for numerous political suits, including the Texas Association of Businesses who go to trial Nov. 10 on charges of making illegal corporate donations and violating election laws in 2002.
Calls for comment to Minton about Simmons case were not returned.
According to court documents, Bell is arguing Simmons does not meet the residency requirements to run for state Senate district 17.
State law requires Senate candidates to live in the district they are running to represent for a year.
An emergency hearing is scheduled in Travis County Monday.
Bell’s campaign has referred to Simmons as a phantom Democrat.
“I am very concerned that she may well be the Republican pawn we've heard would be coming to force a runoff,” State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said in a statement. “This is a desperate attempt to keep Senate District 17 in Republican hands.
Bell and Simmons are the two Democrats in a six-person race to finish the term of former Sen. Kyle Janek who resigned in May to join Biophysical Corporation as their vice president of business development.
The four Republicans include: Kennith “Ken” Sherman, a Lake Jackson engineer; Joan Huffman, former Harris County District Court Judge and Southside Place resident; Grant Harpold, a Braeswood Place lawyer; Austin Furse, who served as a policy advisor to former President George H. W. Bush and lives in West University Place.
The candidate who wins the majority of the vote will finish Janek’s term set to expire January 2011.
If no candidate can net more than 50 percent of the vote the top two finishers will face off in a run off that is yet to be scheduled.
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