Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet, under pressure from County Judge Clay Jenkins and County Commissioner John Wiley Price, said Wednesday that he would resign from the post he’s held for more than two decades.
Sherbet told The Dallas Morning News that he would submit a letter of resignation this morning and hoped to stay on the job until March 1.
“I don’t want to work under these conditions, where the county judge and the most powerful person in the county are against me for no legitimate reason,” Sherbet said. “I love my job, but I’ll go do something else.”
Jenkins released a carefully worded statement in which he misspelled Sherbet’s name.
“It is my understanding from media reports that Mr. Sherbert will offer his resignation. I wish Mr. Sherbert the very best in his new endeavors,” Jenkins wrote. “Fair and accurate elections are extremely important. Every eligible voter must be able to vote and their vote must be accurately counted.
“We will work with the Texas Secretary of State and the Justice Department to ensure the Dallas County Elections Department is the best it can be.”
Price had no reaction to Sherbet’s decision, but confirmed that he had talked to Sherbet Wednesday morning.
“It was good,” Price said of the meeting. “It was civil.”
But hours after that meeting, Sherbet decided to resign.
Sherbet has been Dallas County elections administrator since 1987 and is one of the most respected elections officials in the country.
But his political standing with some Democrats soured with the election of Jenkins; he, incoming Commissioner Elba Garcia and Price now form a Democratic majority on the Commissioners Court for the first time in decades.
Sherbet’s political views are not publicly known, and he’s hasn’t voted in a political primary in 30 years.
Until Monday, he thought he was in good standing with Price and Jenkins.
That’s when Jenkins, the newly elected county judge, called a meeting for this Friday of the County Election Commission, presumably to discuss whether to retain Sherbet.
The commission is made up of Jenkins, Tax Assessor John Ames, County Clerk John Warren, local Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman and local Democratic Party Chairwoman Darlene Ewing.
Four of the five members of the commission would have to vote to fire Sherbet, along with a majority on the county Commissioners Court.
The election commission has not met since 1987, when it hired Sherbet, and only meets to hire or fire election administrators.
Jenkins says he wants the commission to meet regularly, but the closed-door session scheduled for Friday was seen by some as an ambush. It’s widely believed that Jenkins, who chairs the commission, was working with Price to get the votes necessary to oust Sherbet.
Jenkins says he didn’t lobby anyone on the commission and called the meeting because the body hadn’t met in more than 20 years.
The new county judge has not publicly criticized Sherbet and didn’t make changes in the Elections Department a priority of his campaign.
As a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party in 2008, Jenkins did bring a lawsuit against Sherbet and the Elections Department, claiming that they didn’t seek Justice Department approval before making changes to the county voting procedures. The suit was in response to the razor-thin contest between state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, and Democrat Bob Romano. Harper-Brown won the contest by 19 votes.
Sherbet said Wednesday that he has never heard any concerns from Jenkins about his job performance. The two talked frequently during the campaign, but sparingly since the election.
With Sherbet out, the election commission has to consider a replacement.
The top candidate for the job is Antoinette Pippins-Poole, a veteran elections official whom Sherbet hired as his assistant in 1988.
Some county Republicans consider her too friendly to Price and other Democrats.
Other names could be put into nomination by any member of the commission.
Ewing, the Democratic Party chairwoman, said she would recommend that the committee conduct a search and take applications for the job.
Meanwhile, Sherbet ends a more than 30-year career as a Dallas County public servant, most as elections administrator.
On Wednesday, he received praise from Democrats and Republicans — many of whom lamented his departure.
“I’m saddened by it,” Ewing said. “Bruce Sherbet is one of the finest election administrators in the state. It’s significant that both county chairs supported him.”
Ewing said she would have voted in favor of Sherbet at Friday’s commission meeting, a move that would have kept him on the job.
She acknowledged that she was lobbied Tuesday night to vote against Sherbet.
“I heard a lot of complaints, but nothing substantial,” she said.
Supporters of Sherbet had hoped public support from Ewing and Neerman, the local party leaders, would preserve his job.
But Sherbet said he was worried that Jenkins’ and Price’s feelings about him had poisoned the work environment.
“If it’s not this situation, they would have come back at me again,” Sherbet said.
Neerman said he was angry that Sherbet was forced out.
“It’s a bad day for the citizens of Dallas County to lose a dedicated leader like Bruce Sherbet for what appears to be political reasons,” Neerman said. “The citizens of Dallas County should pay attention to these Democrat leaders. They now own the county, and this is what we’re going to get.”
Garcia, the newly elected District 4 commissioner, said she was not involved in a movement to oust Sherbet.
“He’s done a great job,” said Garcia. “I understand why he feels that way. It’s tough to work in an environment where you feel unwelcome.”
