ABC13 reports on the tension between party candidates and party officials. It'll help us come to terms with the ongoing conflict over control of political parties.
The Harris County Democratic Party has been denied the right to remove a Democratic candidate for Harris County District Attorney. Lloyd Oliver is a perennial candidate whose allegiance seems loose. There's little evidence he's a committed member of the party, and there are some who question his fitness for office should he win.
All together, the party would like to remove him from the ticket, but he won the Democratic primary election, so he has the approval of the Democratic electorate. Party officials sued to get him thrown off the ballot, alleging that comments he made that supported a Republican disqualified him.
They sued to get him off the ballot, but Judge Bill Burke of the 189th District Court disagreed. There's no reason to overrule the decision of the electorate - even if doing so may in fact be in the best interest of the party. Missouri Republicans are dealing with a similar issue with Todd Akin.
The story contains an interesting exchange between the lawyer representing the Democrats and the reporter covering the story:
Ted Oberg: So why do you even have elections?
Dion Ramos, Democratic party lawyer: I can't answer that for you.
Oberg: Time out. You represent the Texas Democratic Party. Please tell me why they have elections if the executive committee can overrule them?
Ramos: Well, I think that that's something that is inherent in the power of a private political party.
The courts long ago decided that though parties are private organizations, they serve public functions so they cannot make arbitrary decisions over matters - like elections - that have public consequences.
