Ramsey’s Treasurer Controversy

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Rodney Ramsey’s campaign treasurer is becoming news again.

First he appointed ‘06 Democratic county judge candidate Chuck Beatty (a Waxahachie councilman) as his treasurer. That put him at odds with about half of the hard-core GOP voting population (full disclosure: I voted for Beatty in lst year’s city council race and voted for GOP Judge Chad Adams in the ‘06 county judge race), but a few weeks ago — after I blew this entire 2008 election season wide open with breaking the Hellstern/DA cover up, Beatty was pressured by local Democrats - including the Hellstern family - to resign, which he did.

Ramsey then appointed Todd Phillippi, a Midlothian attorney, as his treasurer. Then, after a consultation with Ramsey, Beatty said his friendship meant more than blowback from me (Ramsey had nothing to do with The Ellis County Press articles about assistant prosecutor Cindy Hellstern’s husband caught committing a sexual act in Palmer in ‘06 during her run for county Court at Law No. 2 against Republican Judge Gene Calvert) exposing the entire situation.

The WDL called this “negative campaign tactics” in its article. I laughed. Negative campaign tactics = Joey Dauben making it very difficult for Joe Grubbs to [expletive] win re-election knowing that he’s the kingpin of corruption in this county.

So after that point in time, Beatty agreed — according to a conversation I had with Ramsey — to be the treasurer again. In fact, one of the newspaper ads that Ramsey ran at the top front page of our paper listed Beatty one week and Phillippi the next, then followed by Beatty again.

Now the Waxahachie Daily Light is drumming around saying that Beatty was re-appointed without his knowledge.
Is this retaliation on the WDL’s part for Ramsey skipping the GOP Women’s Forum Monday night? Who knows…but one thing’s for sure, there are some very pissed-off people not wanting Joe Grubbs to lose this election.

And fortunately, The Ellis County Press and the Observer are making very huge gains in this election’s PR battle. One one hand, Choir Boy Joe is having to fight the re-election campaign of his life, and on the other, Ramsey’s campaign is hampered by the fact that there are competing news agencies drudging these controversial stories to light.

Welcome to politics, Ellis County.

The campaigns and elections might end on March 4, but I won’t.

Campaign controversy
Treasurer withdraws from campaign, surprised by reinstatement on election records
By JOANN LIVINGSTON
Daily Light Managing Editor
Published: Friday, February 22, 2008 1:18 PM CST
Of several questions about who is or isn’t serving as campaign treasurer for district attorney candidate Rodney Ramsey – one thing’s for certain.

As of Thursday, it’s officially no longer Chuck Beatty, who submitted his resignation a second time after learning he’d been reappointed without his knowledge after resigning the first time.

Beatty filed a letter with the Ellis County Elections Office on Thursday in accordance with Section 252.013 and after also having given notice to Ramsey again of his resignation. As of late Thursday, there was no filing by Ramsey appointing someone in his place.

In an interview with the Daily Light, Beatty, a Democrat, said he had signed on as treasurer in October, doing so out of friendship and a personal belief that local elections should be non-partisan.

Ramsey had supported Beatty during his bid for county judge two years ago, with Beatty noting his return support for Ramsey was a continued effort to “try to reach across party lines.”

E-mails between the two men indicate both drew some criticism from their respective parties about the treasurer appointment. Beatty told the Daily Light the criticism didn’t bother him because his friendship mattered more than politics. Beatty said he would have continued to serve as treasurer – except for negative campaign tactics used by other Ramsey supporters.

Citing those negative tactics, Beatty originally resigned via an e-mail to Ramsey on Jan. 27.

“I do not want to be involved in any mud slinging,” Beatty wrote. “I am afraid that my reputation will be damaged as a result of the association.”

Beatty told Ramsey that he valued his friendship, but that he also considered the people who were under attack as his friends.

Ramsey, who denied any involvement with the negative tactics and allegations, responded to the resignation via an e-mail, saying, “You will forgive me if I feel as though a friend of mine has just stabbed me in the back for no good reason.”

Ramsey apparently accepted Beatty’s resignation, however, and filed an amended treasurer form with the Elections Office in which he named attorney Todd Phillippi as his treasurer. The form was hand-dated Jan. 23 and stamped Jan. 28 by the elections office.

“If the people of Ellis County are satisfied with a corrupt, deceitful district attorney, they are most certainly welcome to keep him,” Ramsey wrote in his e-mail to Beatty. “But I do not ever want to hear another word from anyone’s mouth about how badly we need a change. Everyone wants to gripe about it, but no one wants to stand up against it.”

Beatty said that, because of the friendship between the two men, he responded back to Ramsey via e-mail Jan. 29 that if Ramsey wanted him to continue as his treasurer, that he would.

Responding back on Jan. 29, Ramsey e-mailed Beatty that he also appreciated their friendship, but noted that he had already removed Beatty.

“I did, however, respect your request and appointed another treasurer yesterday,” Ramsey wrote in the e-mail. “I don’t think it fair that you should go through any bulls–t with the (Democratic) party. …

“We don’t have to agree, but it is very important that we remain friends,” Ramsey also wrote in the e-mail.

A disagreement has presented itself, however, as to how Beatty came to be reappointed. Paperwork filed Feb. 4 at the elections office indicates Ramsey put Beatty back on as treasurer.

Ramsey told the Daily Light on Feb. 16 that Beatty agreed to the reappointment. When asked Feb. 17 by the Daily Light about the reappointment, Beatty said he was unaware that had happened – and noted he had told a gathering of Democrats that weekend that he was no longer serving as treasurer.

In an e-mail to Ramsey on Feb. 18, Beatty wrote, “The problem right now has nothing to do with what anyone thinks of you. It doesn’t even have anything to do with supporting a Republican.

“The problem is, pure and simple, that you put me back on as treasurer, causing tremendous problems for me because it basically made a liar out of me and seriously harming my credibility in this county,” Beatty wrote. “ … In fact, no one has been hateful, no one has demanded ‘blind party loyalty.’ This is a matter of your failure to give any consideration to me and my reputation when you reappointed me as treasurer.”

In an e-mail response, Ramsey wrote Beatty that he “never meant to make you out a liar” and apologized for the misunderstanding, saying he thought Beatty wanted to stay on as treasurer.

“I would not do something to cause you any harm,” Ramsey wrote. “Unfortunately, this will very likely harm my election. I will appoint someone else in a few days. If you can wait until I file my eight-day report I would appreciate it. …

“Chuck, you didn’t lie to anyone,” Ramsey wrote. “You weren’t aware of the appointment. I am sorry about the whole thing and I will appoint someone else as soon as possible.”

Ramsey also sent an e-mail to county Democratic Party chairman Larry Wilson, saying there had been “a misunderstanding” regarding the reappointment and that he was in the process of appointing a successor.

“I would not want anyone within your party to question Mr. Beatty’s character for truthfulness due to a misunderstanding on my part,” Ramsey wrote. “Unlike many others running on the Republican ticket, I consider my responsibilities to my friends and neighbors over those to the party and I would not want to cause a problem for a friend.”

In an e-mail to Ramsey on Feb. 19, Beatty sought to get the candidate to meet him at the elections office at noon that same day to take care of the paperwork.

In his response back, Ramsey wrote, “I am home sick today. I will make the change today (Feb. 19).”

As of late Thursday, Ramsey had not filed paperwork appointing a new treasurer with the elections office. As of press time, he had not responded to an e-mail sent by the Daily Light requesting comment.

Election rules regarding campaign treasurer

According to the Texas Ethics Commission’s campaign finance guide for local elections, a candidate must appoint a campaign treasurer prior to accepting any contributions or making any expenditures. A candidate’s campaign treasurer, however, has no legal duties – it’s the candidate who is responsible for filing any required periodic reports for his or her campaign.

A campaign treasurer appointment is effective when filed and takes effect on the date received in the elections office if hand-delivered or on the postmark date if mailed, according to the guide.

The guide notes that a candidate may terminate a treasurer appointment by filing either an amendment form or a final report.

A treasurer may terminate his or her position by notifying both the candidate and the filing authority in writing. The termination would be effective on the date the candidate receives the notice or on the date the filing authority receives the notice, whichever is later.

E-mail JoAnn at joann@wninews.com

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