John Wiley Price Will Stay on the Dallas County Commissioner's Court While He Awaits Trial
John Wiley Price is not going to be suspended or removed from the Dallas County Commissioner's Court until at least the end of his corruption trial, which is slated to begin in January 2016.
Stephen Young Indicted? Yes. Still stylish? Yes.
Mike Cantrell, the county's lone Republican commissioner, presented a resolution that would have suspended Price, with pay, until his trial was over. County Judge Clay Jenkins would then have appointed a replacement commissioner for the duration of Price's suspension.
Cantrell insisted that the court shield itself from the inevitable "impact on the county's integrity and public image" that not suspending Price would cause.
See also: Mike Cantrell Is Going to Call for John Wiley Price's Suspension on Tuesday
As Cantrell read his resolution, Price sat, stoic in a white suit jacket he was wearing in support of a women's equality resolution unanimously approved by the court. His supporters in the gallery were more boisterous, murmuring objections to Cantrell's charges. One person loudly cleared his throat each time Cantrell said Price's name, for some reason.
When Cantrell was done, his motion to suspend Price needed a second so the court could vote on it. He didn't get it. Cantrell got to say his piece for the record, but he did not force his fellow commissioners to similarly go on the record with a vote supporting Price. Sadly, we'll also never know whether Price would have voted against his own suspension rather than recusing himself.
Cantrell's other business -- a call for an investigation of Craig Watkins' February 2013 car wreck and subsequent use of forfeiture funds -- was delayed a week. Cantrell informed the court that he'd found out just prior to the meeting that the district attorney was out of town due to a previous commitment.
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