MORRIS: "I RESIGNED, I RESIGNED NOT"; HASSE APPEAL ON

By Juan Montoya
Cameron County Republican Party 102 Precinct Chair Tad Hasse says he is preparing his appeal to the decision by visiting judge Menton Murray who ruled that outgoing county chair Frank Morris' emailed resignation was not binding since it did not contain his signature.
Murray was sitting in for Rolando Olvera in the 445th District Court bench.

Originally, Murray cast doubts on whether the court had jurisdiction in the intra-party dispute, but with the issue of the court's jurisdiction stipulated by both parties, Murray cited the missing signature as his reason for not issuing an injunction to keep Morris from heading the party.

The whole dispute centered around a group of local Republican party members who challenged Morris with the credentials committee during the party's convention in March. Morris, instead of fighting the charges, resigned from his position and did not attend the convention.
During the convention, an electronic marquee (see graphic, click to enlarge) thanked all the "outgoing" county chairmen for their service.
Morris' name was listed under Cameron County fifth from the top on the first column of the right hand screen.
Later, he was elected to the chair for a new term during the party's primary and he withdrew his resignation saying it applied only to the expired term.
In yet another email introduced into evidence by Hasse and his attorney, Morris told the county GOP secretary that he would resign yet again in June if necessary.

Hasse and the other members took that to mean that not only had Morris resigned from the expired term as chair, but that he was also resigning from the new two-year term to which he had been elected during the primary.

However, Murray told Hasse and is attorney that they were free to appeal if they found other cases where such communications were considered official.

Morris had also asked for $7,500 in sanctions against Hasse. Murray found that request to have Hasse pay the  sanctions had "no merit."
Hasse and his attorney say they had already found precedent for emails to be accepted as formal documentation and are confident that they will prevail in the end.