Dukes retaliates with lawsuits on anniversary of charges being dropped

A lawyer using the legal system to punish her enemies is one of those dog-bites-man stories.

In other words, it's par for the course for outgoing Rep. Dawnna Dukes to drop some paperwork to attack those who blew the whistle on questionable activities in her state office.

But what makes this a man-bites-dog story is whom she is suing -- and on the one-year anniversary of the dismissal of her charges, at that. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Dukes is suing:

• Statesman reporter Sean Walsh. 
• Travis County DA Margaret Moore. 
• Former Travis County Rosemary Lehmberg.
• An un-named state auditor's office employee.
• Three former legislative staffers.
• and for $7.8 million in personal and business losses, "mental anguish," etc. 

(Hopefully she won't sue the Tracker, now!)

Read more about the suit here:
https://www.statesman.com/news/20181024/rep-dawnna-dukes-sues-prosecutor-statesman-3-former-aides

Here's a summary of "The Dukes Chronicles" so far:


On Jan. 18, 2017, a Travis County grand jury indicted Dukes on 13 felony indictments and 2 misdemeanors for allegedly tampering with a governmental record and filing incorrect per diem expense reports.

State investigators and media reports unearthed even more oddities: $51,000 spent on phone calls to psychic advisers, legislative staff being coerced into volunteering for an African-American heritage festival (which she in turn canceled) and caring for Dukes' children, depositing campaign checks into her personal account, refusing to hand her personal cell phone to state investigators for review, and having an extremely lackluster attendance record on the House floor before, during her legal woes.

Finally, on Oct. 23, 2017, the Democrat-run Travis County District Attorney's office dropped all charges against Dukes with prosecutors stating the charges should have never been filed in the first place (and now they're being sued). Dukes paid around $7,000 in restitution and fines.

Dukes announced plans to resign her seat during the investigations, but did an about-face and ran for re-election anyway -- ultimately receiving 10 percent in a six-person Democratic Primary on March 6.

During the 2017 legislative session Dukes was nonetheless appointed by Texas House leadership to the Appropriations Committee and the International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

Voters now have a chance to not only close this saga but to reverse it by electing Gabriel Nila to the Texas House for House District 46. The Tracker recommends a vote for Nila, a Republican, who would not kowtow to the Democratic monopoly in Travis County government. Furthermore, Nila would be an independent voice in the Texas House as he is not bankrolled by any special interests or beholden to any particular wing of the legislative crowd for their support -- he's running a shoestring campaign against all odds.

Nila is the kind of person we need in office to heal HD 46 and clean up the corruption that turned a bind eye to Dukes' excesses.