Luis Sepulveda, a former Oak Cliff justice of the peace who lost his re-election bid last year, blasted his Democratic colleagues on the Dallas County Commissioners Court for not appointing a Democrat to his old position.
“I’m very disappointed as to why Democrats are putting Republicans in our positions. It’s an insult to our community,” Sepulveda said. “They’re sending a bad message to our Democratic Party.”
A vacancy opened up when Carlos Medrano, who defeated Sepulveda in last March’s Democratic primary, was suspended by the state due to his recent felony indictment for soliciting illegal votes.
The commissioners had considered appointing someone to the Precinct 5 bench, which is in a diverse, solidly-Democratic community of Dallas County. Instead they decided to have Juan Jasso, a second Precinct 5 justice of the peace, absorb Medrano’s caseload until the end of the year.
On Jan. 1, the commissioners will vote to appoint Sandra Ellis, a Republican, to the position. Ellis is a JP in Richardson who will not have a precinct in 2012 due to county redistricting. Because she was re-elected last year, the county will have to pay her salary until 2014. County Judge Clay Jenkins has said the county may as well put her to good use.
Sepulveda, however, had asked the commissioners to appoint him since he is a bilingual Democrat who was (according to him) ousted from office due election fraud perpetrated by the Medrano family.
