Sheriff, DA switch parties

Two local elected officials said Monday they are switching their affiliations, leaving the Democratic Party in favor of the Republican Party.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn and District Attorney Luke Inman both intend to file as Republicans next month when they file for re-election.

Speaking at a gathering of about 35 Donley County Republicans, Blackburn said he had “caught heat” from local voters ever since he first ran for sheriff in 2000 as a Democrat, but he said he had practical reasons for running on that ticket.

“I don’t think my mother would have voted for me otherwise,” Blackburn said. “But this last time was the first time that I know of that she didn’t vote a straight [Democratic] ticket.”

Turning more serious, Blackburn said as he looked at the current events in the country he just could not stay on the Democratic side of the ticket.

“I’ll do the job just as well as a Republican as I did as a Democrat,” he said.

Inman, who has served as the 100th Judicial District Attorney since 2008, said he is a recent convert to the Grand Old Party, and he credited Blackburn as helping him learn the ropes of the prosecutor’s office when he was appointed to his position by Governor Rick Perry. He said he enjoys serving Donley County and the other four counties in his district – Collingsworth, Carson, Hall, and Childress.

“We juggle a lot of cases trying to make sure that we can all feel safe in our homes,” Inman said.

County Republican Chairman Tom Stauder said that while it is true that party affiliation does not matter in how local officials do their job, one party having a majority of local offices is a good indication of which way local voters will lean in state and national elections. He said with Blackburn and Inman switching parties, the GOP now has 12 of 15 local offices.

Also attending Monday’s Republican meeting was State Sen. Kel Seliger, whose district will include Donley County beginning in 2013.

“It will be an honor to run with the sheriff and the district attorney on the Republican ticket this March,” Seliger said.

The senator said he is a lifelong Republican because the parties have a philosophical divide and that the Republican Party has stood for less government.

Seliger also discussed issues ranging from electric transmission to education to water. The senator will cover those topics again and take questions from local voters during a town hall meeting this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the Bairfield Activity Center.