Love, Grandma Moody. Our journey in this life is short, but the glory is in heaven. Many blessings for Mr. Cook and you and your family. As a friend and business associate I just want to convey my condolences to you and your family. He will be sorely missed by the USS Flasher families.
Our deepest sympathies to Mayor Cook and all the family. We met Mr. Cook Sr. But, on June 14, , the El Paso City Council amended the ordinance, effectively restoring domestic partnership benefits. Around this same time, Brown issued a social media statement on the website of Tom Brown Ministries TBM that he had decided to support the recall efforts and encouraged the public to call the WOL Church to sign the recall petition. In a 1 Tom Brown Ministries appears to be a trade name that Brown uses in relation to his church activities.
The minutes indicate that Brown met with a group of local pastors, some of whom expressed their support. At least one other incorporated El Paso church, Jesus Chapel, and its pastor either participated in or expressed an interest in participating in the recall efforts.
See Hoyt v. City of El Paso, Tex. Cook also sought the withdrawal of all illegally-procured petitions that had been previously submitted to the City Clerk. The Temporary Injunction The trial court initially entered a temporary restraining order in favor of Cook, enjoining Appellees from circulating the petitions and otherwise supporting the recall efforts, but later dissolved the TRO and ordered the City Clerk to accept all of the disputed recall petitions.
Cook, S. The City Clerk thereafter certified that the requisite number of qualified voters had signed petitions in support of the recall election. Neither the City nor Mayor Cook in his official capacity was a party to the lawsuit at the time they were sued, and it does not appear that Appellees served the City and Cook with citation. However, the City and Cook, in his official capacity, entered appearances in the case by filing various pleadings, and therefore appear to have waived any procedural deficiencies in this regard.
See TEX. The trial court held a five-day temporary injunction hearing. As a result, multiple witnesses, including Brown, invoked the Fifth Amendment during their testimony. On January 30, , the City voted in favor of a recall election resolution, and thereafter scheduled a recall election for April 14, Cook filed a timely interlocutory appeal to this Court. We concluded the evidence clearly established a violation of the Election Code, and that Cook was being harmed or was in danger of being harmed by the violations.
We therefore concluded that Cook had the right to seek appropriate injunctive relief as allowed by Section Appellees did not seek a rehearing of our decision. We noted that Section Although we recognized that a treasurer had been named and appointed for EPTFV, we concluded that EPTFV had made expenditures for a different purpose to support the recall efforts than that which was initially stated when the EPTFV was first established to promote the traditional-family-values ordinance in We concluded that in effect no treasurer had been appointed for any specific-purpose committee with regard to the recall efforts.
Proceedings in the Supreme Court Appellees sought review of our decision with the Texas Supreme Court, filing a Petition for Review, a Petition for Mandamus, and a motion seeking emergency relief to stay our decision, asking the Supreme Court to immediately order the City Clerk to re-certify the signatures on the recall petitions so that the April recall election could go forward.
The Supreme Court denied the request to stay and asked for full briefing from the parties. In their briefs, Appellees restated their constitutional argument, asserting that they had a constitutional right to engage in petition circulation as core political speech and that our decision deprived them of this right.
Appellees did not raise any arguments that the City should have decertified only the Cook petitions or that the City went beyond the scope of our mandate in decertifying the Byrd and Ortega petitions and in cancelling the recall election for Byrd and Ortega as well as for Cook. In response, Cook amended his petition, acknowledging that his claim for injunctive relief was moot due to the cancellation of the election and because he, Byrd, and Ortega were now out of office and barred by term limits from again holding office.
Cook relied on Section Cook filed his own motion for partial summary judgment, seeking a judgment that Appellees were liable to him in his individual capacity for their violations of the Election Code provisions, in light of our opinion in Cook.
Appellees opposed the motion, arguing that two cases issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had found the relevant portions of the Election Code unconstitutional and had determined that incorporated churches had a constitutional right to engage in recall efforts. Appellees contended that circulation of the recall petitions was core political speech and that the City, though Mayor Cook, had acted under color of law to improperly enforce the Election Code against them in an unconstitutional manner and that the City was otherwise unconstitutionally restricting them from exercising their right to speak in violation of 42 U.
Monell v. Wilson v. Garcia, U. Tuttle, U. Appellees claimed that the actions of the City deprived them of their rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and petition for redress of grievances under the First Amendment, and to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Graham, U. Among other things, the City contended that Appellees lacked standing because the Appellees had not suffered an injury as the result of any municipal action.
The parties do not address these allegations in their briefing. We note, however, that there is no private right of action for damages arising from alleged violations of the Texas Constitution. See City of Beaumont v. Bouillion, S. Anderson Cancer Ctr. See Cook, S. The City further pointed out that this Court had expressly directed the City Clerk to decertify the petitions and not to hold the scheduled recall election. In addition, the City argued that this Court correctly decided that the recall petitions had been illegally circulated in violation of the Code, and that we also correctly determined that the Code provisions in question were constitutional.
He is a man of high standards and leads one of the most challenging cities in the country. I was very impressed with Mayor Cook's stand to grant benefits to unmarried domestic partners, both gay and straight, in spite of the backlash that it would create. He took a principled stand for those who needed his assistance in providing for their families and refused to back down, even with the threat of a recall election to remove him from office. I feel that Mayor Cook represents the best that the Sun City has to offer not only our country, but our world.
He helped the Crime Victims' Rights Council of El Paso establish the Crime Victims' Memorial Reading Garden honoring the memory of victims of violent crime, including drunk driving crashes, and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty from tyhe community of El Paso. This project was among the first in Texas and includes using public art, a city library and park together to bring attention to the consequences of violence and drunk driving in our community.
The Crime Victims' Memorial Reading Garden is close to several public schools and includes benches and wifi for students to use their computers and tablets. His efforts in promoting these efforts help us to be the "Safest City in the United States", despite the violence in our neighboring city of Juarez, Mexico. Mayor Cook is a visionary leader who does a great job in promoting our city and improving the quality of life.
By Patrick T, El Paso Comment: Mayor John Cook has sacrificed greatly to protect the civil liberties and well-being of those in our community who have come under discriminatory attack from a hate group for their sexual orientation.
He has placed himself under great personal financial hardship and subjected himself to personal attack from this group in order to stand-up for his principles and protect the citizens he was elected to serve. This is a man of high integrity and courage. By MC, El Paso Comment: Despite my disagreements with this mayor, he has been a very progressive mayor for a state that embodies the contrary.
In fact, the recall movements against him are because of his push for same-sex benefits for city employees. He has faced adversity while defending his beliefs and the protection of what is fair for the people.
He has made our city a better place to live and work in. He is also a family man that often spends time with his grandchildren or playing his guitar for elementary school children. His BBQ sauce is sold to make money to help the less fortunate. He also exemplifies "World Mayor" because of where El Paso sits geographically, neighbors Juarez Mexico and amidst all the issues there, our city is still rated first in the nation for "safest city" per its size. Mayor Cook makes decisions based on what he believes to be right and just.
He has defended our city's reputation when it has been attacked by others as unsafe because of its proximity to our sister city of Cd. Juarez, Mexico In fact, the opposite is true. Under Mayor Cook, we have consistently been ranked among the safest large cities in the U.
I am so proud to have Mayor Cook representing El Paso. In this capacity, he was a strong, honest advocate for the Northeast part of our city, where it was considered little more than a bedroom for Fort Bliss. Today, he has proven to be an exceptionally honest man who stands up to incredible odds. Public corruption, drugs imported from Mexico and most of all, the will of the mean spirited. Mayor Cook has led a fight against a recall effort spearheaded by religious fanatics who would deny city health care insurance to domestic partners, certain retired persons and a host of others who have annoyed the fanatical base.
Quietly, steadity Mayor Cook has worked constantly to defang these people who claim that they are lead by God. He is in his last term as decreed by City Charter but he hasn't stopped trying to make life in El Paso Texas as wonderful, equal and healthy as it can be. He listens to the people of El Paso and makes the right decisions even if it's a difficult one he does what's right for the people and the city of El Paso.
He works so hard for the citezens of El Paso and I am so proud to call him our Mayor. He stood up for City employees when they were going to lose health benefits and fought hard against people who were bigots and hateful so hundreds of retired people wouldnt lose health benefits. He is constantly harrassed and continues to deal with the hateful people who wanted to take health benefits away from retired city employees. He is very respectful to his fellow citizens and he is well known the effective work throughout West Texas.
Many people including me respect him for his integrity and honesty. He should be the World Mayor for working so hard with all the issues in an effective way in a border city of the United States. By Madelin G, USA Comment: Mayor Cook is an incredibly honorable man who stood up to law breaking bigots who wished to jam their religious beliefs down the populations throat. Mayor Cook got their recall efforts thrown out in court, and his efforts shined a light on the disgusting, and illegal practices of fundamentalist pastors, in their attempts to cross the line between church and state.
Mayor Cook has been reelcted by a landslide and remains very polpular among all groups of our citizens. For many years he and his wife have been feeding the poor, the homeless and the despitute in the city. He organized and coordinates the Mayor' Teens, they have all maintained high academic standards, are involved as volunteers in helping our seniors in the community.
He has been the leader of the Southwest Region of the Unied States of America and has colaborated over the years with the mayors in our sister city of Ciudad Juarez, MX. He has represented our city admirably around the US. The Mayor and his admintration has been at the helm of city improvements in: mass transit, park upgrades, downtown revitalization, storm water utility, housing the hurricane refugees, transportation and economic development.
Mayor Cook has a gift and talent for bridge-building and uniting people from all levels of government and socio-economic backgrounds to forge solutions. He visits with students and teachers,has established a reading club and also a program to recognize teenagers who do well in school and serve the community.
He has a heart for the homeless and hungry, serving a monthly meal at one of the local shelters and established a foundation where the proceeds are distributed to the shelters for food purchases. He is a thoughtful,wise and respectful person. Mayor Cook listens well, has depth and ethical standards. He is not afraid to tackle issues or problems.
He is proud and supportive of his family, staff, and constituents. Password recovery. Interesting stories about famous people, biographies, humorous stories, photos and videos. All posts State Policies. Alexey Navalny. Top 14 Famous Tennis Players.
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