Unfair Park from p4 square off with the Democratic nominee after Hajdu’s candidacy was declared ineli- gible, Noble argues. The way Noble sees it, it’s implausible that the Hajdus didn’t realize that they no longer lived in HD 114, which was re- drawn last year. On top of Stoddard-Haj- du’s position as county GOP chair, she said, her husband has served as a local precinct chair. At the same time, Republicans at every level of government have continuously cried “fraud,” she added. “It seems again and again, we are at least seeing the impli- cation of impropriety on the Republican side,” Noble said. “And so it just seems that the call of the ‘Big Lie’ is really all projection.” Noble later said Texas is the most diffi- cult state in which to vote. Sometimes, peo- ple avoid the ballot box because they feel their vote doesn’t matter and that the system is rigged. “These types of improprieties perpetuate that feeling, and so making it harder to vote and then breaking the election code in the law to cherry-pick a candidate is doing noth- ing but deteriorating our democracy and faith in our democracy,” she said. “That’s why we filed the complaint.” The Democrats have published a copy of the purported false filing, an event timeline, a legal memorandum and the let- ter to the DA’s Public Integrity Unit. The memo argues that the Hajdus should be charged “for a state jail felony for know- ingly making a false entry in a governmen- tal record.” Calls to the Dallas County District Attor- ney’s Office weren’t returned by publication time. Hadju’s campaign expenditures total $750, and he’s received $0 in donations, per campaign finance website Transparency USA. The filing fee listed on Hajdu’s appli- cation was $750. Democrats claim that Hajdu never made a campaign announcement and that he Democrats are claiming GOP election fraud. hasn’t mentioned his candidacy on social media. But they say he’s active on Facebook, where he purportedly posts about others’ races. The county Democrats also say the cou- ple, who now live in HD 108, would have no- ticed that Hajdu was not listed as a candidate on their ballot when they voted in the primary. They further claim that the Hajdus knew of a prior GOP candidate for HD 114 who had to drop out of the race fol- lowing redistricting. In addition, the memo alleges that the couple “intended to defraud” Democratic contender John Bryant by letting Hajdu re- main on the ballot through the primary. Republicans wouldn’t have been allowed to replace Hajdu with another candidate if he had withdrawn from the race, the memo states. They can, however, if Hajdu is deemed ineligible. The memo also notes that on the Secre- tary of State’s website, Hajdu has been deemed ineligible, although it’s unclear by whom. Reached by phone, Hajdu slammed the Democrats’ claims as “absolutely inaccu- rate” and “fraudulent.” He then promised to call back before hurriedly ending the call. He neither called back nor did he re- spond to a subsequent voicemail and email. A representative with the Dallas County Republican Party responded to the Observer’s inquiry on behalf of Stoddard- Hajdu. “This allegation is totally without merit,” Stoddard-Hajdu said, according to the GOP representative. “It’s political ha- rassment, pure and simple, and it’s going nowhere.” The timeline of events laid out by the Democrats notes that Hajdu filed for HD 114 on Dec. 13, the final day of filing. Had he not done so, the Democrats would have run their candidate unopposed. To Noble, it doesn’t seem like there should be a Republican candidate in HD 114. “We want free, fair elections,” she said. “Our voters deserve to have the processes followed by both sides, by both parties, to make sure that everything is fair. It appears that that was not done in this case.” Jacob Vaughn ▼ POLITICS THE WHOLE GANG F THIS YEAR, THE DALLAS CPAC CONVENTION WILL AGAIN INCLUDE HARDLINE REPUBLICAN SPEAKERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND BEYOND. BY PATRICK STRICKLAND or the second consecutive year, the Conservative Political Action Confer- ence, or CPAC, will hold an annual gathering in Dallas. Scheduled to take place at the Hilton Anatole Aug. 4–7, this year’s CPAC Dallas will include speeches by former President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a slate of hardline Republicans from around the country. Among those listed on the four-day con- vention’s website this year are former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who was recently found convicted on contempt charges for de- fying a subpoena from the Congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot in January 2021, and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s been criticized for promoting QAnon and other conspiracy theories. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Or- ban, who heads the right-wing Fidesz party and has led an anti-refugee push in Europe, is scheduled to deliver the opening speech at the convention. Orban’s government has also been accused of clamping down on civil society. Earlier this year, CPAC held an event in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. The list also includes Jack Posobiec, a far- right media personality. In the past, Poso- biec promoted conspiracy theories, including the Pizzagate hoax that claimed high-profile Democrats were overseeing a child sex trafficking ring in a D.C. restau- rant’s basement. During the height of the pandemic, 66 CPAC chair Matt Schlapp said that the an- nual conventions had been moved to Florida and Texas. “We refused to allow blue state, lockdown politicians to cancel #CPAC,” Schlapp tweeted in February, adding: “If you want to get business done, you have to go to a red state.” CPAC held its convention last July at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, with attendees Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban will speak at CPAC Dallas. gathering under the theme “America Un- Canceled.” During last year’s convention, Trump gave a 90-minute speech and repeated un- founded claims that the November 2020 presidential election had been rigged in now-President Joe Biden’s favor. More than 1,000 people attended his speech. A straw poll held at the time found that some 70% of attendees would still support Trump in another run for the White House. This time around, CPAC dubbed its Dal- las convention “Awake Not Woke.” The event comes three months before midterm elections in November. ▼ LGBT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS HAS LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION INTO A PROFESSOR’S TWEETS, WHICH CRITICS HAVE SLAMMED AS HOMOPHOBIC. BY SIMONE CARTER TWITTER TROUBLES T he University of Texas at Dallas an- nounced last Monday that it is inves- tigating following complaints that a professor’s tweets were homophobic and spread misinformation. Timothy P. Farage, a professor in UTD’s computer science department, prompted the backlash with his string of controversial tweets. In a post about a monkeypox outbreak in New York, he suggested trying to “find a cure for homosexuality.” (Twitter later re- moved the tweet for violating the site’s rules.) Farage attempted to clarify his po- sition the following day after facing push- back. “I don’t think homosexuality is wrong,” he tweeted recently. “I think it is a medical disorder.” Now, many UTD students are calling for Farage’s ouster. Psychology major Chase Mueller, presi- dent of Pride at UTD, said he felt “disgust and horror” when he first learned of >> p9 istock MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 JULY 28–AUGUST 3, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com
