COURT OF APPEALS RACES - 2016- THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY CONTESTS

2nd COURT OF APPEALS in Fort Worth Place 3 is being vacated by Justice Anne Gardner and five Republicans have filed for this seat. No Democrats filed.

The voters in this race must choose between 5 very good candidates. Four of them are AV- Preeminent rated by Martindale Hubbell and all have appellate experience-three on the civil side and two on the criminal side of the bar. We feel that Dabney Russell and Elizabeth Kerr are the best, whoever wins will do a good job on the court.

DABNEY BASSEL

Mr. Bassel combines all the ingredients to make a successful run for the Court of Appeals. Raised in San Antonio, he graduated from Trinity University and earned his law degree from Baylor School of Law in 1982. He has extensive appellate experience, having handled the most civil appellate matters of any of the candidates in this race. He is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law and is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale- Hubbell. Mr Bassell is a past Vice President of the Tarrant County Bar Association, a membe of the American Law Institute and a member of the Federalist Society. He is licensed to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of , the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Bassel has been active in Republican affairs in Fort Worth and North Texas and served as a delegate to the Texas State Republican Party Convention.

MARY COLCHIN JOHNDROE Ms. Johndroe is a partner at Cantey Hanger law firm in Fort Worth. Her practice includes civil litigation, including construction, contract, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, property rights, and government law cases. She graduated from Baylor University School of Law in 1986 after receiving her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1979. She is seemingly qualifed but not as well known in legal circles as Bassel and Elizabeth Kerr and among the five candidates in this race has handled the fewest number of appellate matters (twelve) . She received the highest rating from Martindale Hubbell- AV Preeminent.

ELIZBETH KERR

Elizabeth "Leza" Kerr, with the Fort Worth firm Friedman, Suder and Cooke, earned a B.A. degree from Rice University in 1978 and then a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1982. Following law school she served as a briefing attorney for Federal District Judge Lucius D. Bunton, III. In the 1990s Leza began collaborating on various projects with Bryan A. Garner, the country’s foremost legal-writing expert, who invited her to be a contributing editor to his wholesale rewriting of Black’s Law Dictionary in its 1999 edition. Her areas of practice expertise include busines and commercial litigation, trust and estate litigation and oil and gas litigation.

She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Tarrant County Bar Association and former chair of the Appellate Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association as well as being a member of the Business Litigation Section. She is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. Her Courts of Admission include the State Courts of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Northern and Western Federal District Courts of Texas. She is a board member of the Fort Worth Republican Women. She also recieved the highest Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell of AV/Preeminent.

William Anthony "Andy" Porter (no image available)

He is a prosecutor with the Tarrant County District Attorney's office. His Courts of Admission listed on the State Bar of Texas website include the U. S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He attended Austin College, graduated cum laude and then earned his J.D. from Drake University (with honors) in 1998. It is believed that this is his first run for public office. At a distance his "ballot name" seems to be the best thing he has going for him.

He is not rated by Martindale Hubbell.

BILL RAY

Mr. Ray's practice has been exclusively in criminal law. Of the two candidates in this race coming from a criminal law background he is clearly the more experienced. His website touts over 468 appellate matters before various Texas appellate courts over 30 years.

He is a graduate of Paschal High School in Fort Worth, Texas A&M and St. Mary's School of Law. He served as a briefing Attorney, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 1985-1986 and Tarrant County Assistant D.A 1986-1990. He is double boarded in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law

Courts of Admittance include the U.S. Supreme Court, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Northern District of Texas, Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, and Chickasaw Indian Nation Texas Super Lawyer 2009-2015 and a Martindale Hubbell rating of AV Preeminent. Fellow of the State Bar of Texas and the Tarrant County Bar Association, Former President and Board Member, Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association

5th COURT OF APPEALS

DAVID JOHN SCHENCK

We strongly urge voters to vote for David John Schenck. Justice Schenck was appointed to the court by Governor on January 7, 2015, to replace Justice Michael O'Neill By all accounts is doing an outstanding job.

Schenck earned his undergraduate from the State University of New York at Albany and his J.D. from Baylor University where he finished first in his class. Following law school Justice Schenck served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Henry Politz of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

He previously worked for then Attorney General Greg Abbott as deputy attorney general for legal counsel. He filed an amicus brief on behalf of gun rights groups in the 2008 landmark decision where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down District of Columbia restrictions on handgun ownership.

He also had was appointed by Governor Perry to serve on the Texas Lottery Commission. Prior to joining the court, Schenck worked as an attorney in private practice for the law firm of Dykema Gossett PPLC. He is board certified in Civil Appellate Law and A-V Preeminent rated by Martindale Hubbell.His Courts of Admittance include: US Supreme Court, US Court of International Trade, US Tax Court,Six Federal Circuit Court of Appeals,Five Federal District Courts He served as President of Republican Lawyers of and as a delegate to the State and National Republican Conventions and as Co-Chair of Texas Lawyers for Romney and for Texas Lawyers for McCain Any informed Republican voter will vote for him, not only because of his qualifications and proven conservative record but because of the stark contrast with his Republican Primary opponent.

DAVID JAMES HANSCHEN

Perhaps hoping to capitalize on voter confusion, David James Hanschen is challenging David John Schenck. Hanschen has had a high profile in Dallas but seldom for reasons that Republican voters would embrace. Hanschen is a self-identifed liberal Democrat. Dallas County voters should be familiar with his name. 2016 will mark the 7th time he has run for judicial office, the first six as a Democrat. He is not board certified and unrated by Martindale Hubbell.

He surprised most folks when he filed this time at the last minute in the Republican Primary. His recent social media posts clearly define him as a leftist Democrat and suggest something far removed from the judicial temperment that this position requires.

Examples include:  "I'm a pro-choice, Obamacare supporting, climate change believing, minimum wage raising, LGBT embracing, immigration reforming, teacher supporting, pay gap eliminating DEMOCRAT"  In quoting Noam Chomsky on President Ronald Reagan, Hanschen posted this: "Reagan was a Christo-fascist demagogue, a racist, a killer of gay people, a shameless violator of U.S. and international law, a murderer and a terrorist ..... He will go down in history as the most criminally evil of American Presidents, along side the Chaney-Bush administration."

 About then Attorney General Greg Abbott, Hanschen posted this only 13 months ago: "I am ashamed to have this pandering clown as governor."

 In another post depicting a map showing the parts of the US that would be under water if all the world's ice melted, he said: "Well, let's look at the bright side. Most of the U.S. South will be under water! Racist, red neck Christo-fascists be gone!"

 And finally he posted a newspaper story critical of Texas health care and added this quote: "This is the result of "Tort Reform" and refusing to adopt Obamacare. Republican Bastards."

14th COURT OF APPEALS

There are Primary contests for both parties in the open Place 2 seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Justice Sharon McCally.

The Republican contest is between Kevin Jewell and Bud Wiesedeppe

KEVIN JEWELL

Republican voters would do well to cast their vote for Jewell. His record of appellate experience is unparalled. His resume is impressive and he espouses a conservative judicial philosophy. His opponent seemingly lacks the appellate experience that Jewell would bring to the court. It will be a major surprise Jewell does not win the upcoming and State Bar Polls. One would also expect him to garner the lion's share of newspaper endorsements and will win other significant endorsements.

Resume highlights:

Graduated Grapevine High School, Class of 1986 University of Texas at Austin, B.B.A., 1990, high honors Law Center, J.D., 1993 Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 1998 Equity shareholder at 100+ attorney, member of firm executive committee 22 years experience handling state and federal appeals Presented well over 100 oral arguments in state and federal appellate courts, and Argued in all fourteen intermediate Texas appellate courts, and the Fifth, Tenth and DC Federal Circuit Courts. Argued in the Fifth, Tenth, and D.C. federal Circuits Argued ten cases in the Texas Supreme Court (and briefed in more than ten others) Courts of Admittance: U.S. Supreme Court, , six U.S. Courts of Appeals and five United States District Courts Recognized as Texas Super Lawyer 2005-present Member, Houston Bar Association (appellate section), Texas Bar Association (appellate section), American Bar Association, Fifth Circuit Bar Association, Federal Circuit Bar Association, Federalist Society NRA member Eagle Scout, 1982

BUD WIESEDEPPE

Albertus F. "Bud" Wiesedeppe, III ran for the 164th District Court in 2012 and after doing poorly in the Houston Bar pool did equally poorly at the ballot box. During his 2012 campaign the Houston Chronicle reported that he (and Robert Talton) had received significant contributions from lawyers representing strip clubs in Houston. Four lawyers representing "Treasures" gave Wiesedeppe $14,800. "Treasures" was involved in a ongoing lawsuit in the 164th District Court, the court Wiesedeppe was running for. Another attorney representing "adult clubs" in Houston gave Wiesedeppe an additional $2000. That total of $16,800 represented half of the money Wiesedeppe reported receiving that reporting period. Wiesedeppe graduated from Sherman High School and attended Kansas State University where he earned a B.S. in Political Science and Philosophy. He subsequently earned a law degree at Southern Methodist School of Law. He espouses a conservative judicial philosopy, just as his Repubican opponent Kevin Jewell does. He lists his practice as business, construction and appellate:civil law. A case search of appellate cases in Texas reveals only one case that was dismissed without argument. On his State Bar of Texas practice profile page he reported no Courts of Admittance. He is unrated by Martindale Hubbell and not board certified.