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Thursday
Nov042004
Thursday, November 4, 2004 at 04:00AM
Dallas County, the home to some of the biggest
conservative supporters of President Bush, made history Tuesday night
by electing an openly gay Hispanic woman as its sheriff. Democrat Lupe
Valdez, 57, pulled off one of the biggest surprises in the Texas races
by defeating Republican Danny Chandler. "Dallas is an international
county," Valdez told reporters. That is what I want to represent." She
will be the first Democrat to serve as Dallas County sheriff in about
30 years. Valdez boasted that she has worked on law enforcement at a
local, national and international level. Valdez was an accomplished
officer with U.S. Customs and other federal agencies who also served as
a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. She was endorsed by the main local
daily the Dallas Morning News, which saw her as the best person to
clean up a scandal-tainted sheriff's department. Her predecessor,
Sheriff Jim Bowles, a Republican, cast a shadow over the department
when law enforcement officials said earlier this year he was being
investigated on suspicion of receiving kickbacks for contracts from a
vendor for the county jail. [more]]