Wade Emmert Walks for Dallas County Judge
Dallas County Republican Examiner
By: David Smith
DALLAS, Texas - To hear Wade Emmert explain it, he is running for “CEO of Dallas County.” To hear most residents of Dallas County, that is the reply that is necessary in order to explain the position to them. Says Emmert, “It is on the Commissioners’ Court and we set the tax rate, spend your County tax dollars,” etc.
Admittedly, the position of County Judge and the County Commissioners’ Court are unusual terms. Most people think Supreme Court or Law and Order when they hear the terms Court and Judge, when in fact, the positions of Commissioner and County Judge are not of the Judiciary at all.
County Judge is the CEO of the County, not unlike a Mayor to a city, a Governor to a State or the President to the nation. And the Commissioners are the County’s Legislative Branch, elected in districts, or precincts, by residents in those precincts to represent them in matters pertaining to County government.
Mr. Emmert is a member of the City Council in Cedar Hill, south of Dallas, serving out his second, three-year term. Prior to being elected to City Council, Emmert chaired the city bond package that built the new Cedar Hill City Hall, School District Administration building and other joint city facilities. This was a very unique undertaking for the City and School District and was the first instance of this occurring in Texas. It is rare if not the first instance in the nation, and won Cedar Hill’s City Council the designation of City Council of the year for innovation. The project saved Cedar Hill residents significant dollars in bond package size and interest payments by reducing parking and other common spaces, land and other related expenses now contained in one facility.
Emmert walked blocks with volunteers Saturday in Carrollton, assembling at Carrollton City Councilwoman Lisa Sutter’s home before hitting the streets. Armed with campaign literature and voting records of Republican voters in the area, volunteers targeted voters likely to vote in the March 2010 Republican Primary, delivering information on Emmert’s campaign and collecting email addresses to inform voters of events, issues and educating voters on Emmert’s proposals.
In a conversation with one gentleman, Emmert explained, “I am the only Republican in this race. Our current County Judge, Jim Foster, filed at the last minute and spent very little money on his campaign.” Emmert explained that Foster has done very little reaching out to other elected officials in the County and doesn’t have a good record on fiscal items like the jail’s budget or multiple failing grades it has received from the State.
Emmert had around 10 volunteers present and Councilwoman Sutter treated all present to coffee and pastries from Addison’s La Spiga before hitting the streets. A follow-up luncheon was provided at Cafe de Brazil in Carrollton which included much discussion of political issues and figures of the day. The block walking covered approximately 600 homes in Carrollton and was considered a big success for the first such event of the Emmert campaign.
The Wade Emmert for Dallas County Judge campaign web site is linked below.