It's the details, stupid

The change might have gone unnoticed if not for the astute eye of Bill Howell, the Dallas Democratic Party election administrator, who was perusing the list for typos and caught the swapped judges. Hamlin, it turns out, was behind the swap. According to Bruce Sherbet, the Dallas County election administrator, Hamlin "had crunched the numbers" and told Sherbet's department it was wrong, and it believed him.

Howell proved that Hamlin's numbers were wrong, and now the election department is in the process of reinstating the Democratic judges.

"It was multiple layers of mistakes," Bruce Sherbet admits. "I take responsibility. Hamlin's numbers weren't right."

Perhaps it was an innocent mistake on Hamlin's part, but Dallas Democratic Party stalwarts doubt it. "It's like Thoreau said, 'If there's a trout in the milk, you can bet they were watering the milk,'" Howell says.

On Wednesday, October 7, at 8 a.m., Stimson attended the opening of a new Tom Thumb grocery store in Oak Cliff. Surprised to see both Mayfield and Hamlin there, Stimson says he questions what the event had to do with county business, much less why it required both of them to attend. The way the commissioner runs his office, Stimson says, it's difficult to know whether they were there as candidates or county employees.

"If this is the way Mayfield operates, it's scary as hell," Stimson says. "I don't know what the hell he does. All these chamber and Rotary Club breakfasts and luncheons and ribbon cuttings--it looks like a pretty cushy job to me.

"We have to change that," he adds. "There's an awful lot of things we need to change in that office.