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June 12th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Wade Emmert is accusing local officials of using the county Twitter account to promote President Barack Obama‘s re-election campaign. In response, a spokeswoman for Dallas County claims the tweets provide useful information for residents.
The Dallas County Twitter account (@DallasCountyTX) is often used to inform residents of events like county commissioner meetings, but some recent tweets commented on several national issues. In those cases, the tweets seemed to be supportive of President Obama and his policies. Democrats hold a majority of the county’s major offices, including county judge (Clay Jenkins) and sheriff (Lupe Valdez).
Emmert thinks the tweets have no place on the county’s official account. “The job of Dallas County’s spokesperson [Maria Arita] is to disseminate public notices about county programs and county information,” Emmert said. “Instead, Ms. Arita is using the county’s official Twitter account to distribute Obama administration campaign talking points while she is on the job being paid by taxpayer dollars.”
I’ve investigated and found that nearly 30 percent of Dallas County’s official tweets in the past month could be construed as partisan, using phrases and terminology similar to those used on President Obama’s campaign Twitter account.
On May 11, a tweet stated, “We are turning the corner. Lets work together. See WH Jobs Report.” It then linked to a White House blog post by Alan B. Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and a member of President’s Obama’s cabinet. Oddly, the post was from March 2012, when the jobs report was positive, rather than the May report, which was bleak.
Later that day, a second tweet said, “On July 1st the student loan rate will DOUBLE if we don’t work together! See WH post.” A third tweet, sent minutes later, said, “See what ‘President Obama Joins Elected Officials and Student Leaders to Urge #DontDoubleMyRate’ means.” Both tweets linked to a White House release that stated “Unfortunately, so far, Republicans in Congress have voted to let those rates go ahead and double in order to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. President Obama knows that’s not acceptable.” The hashtag phrase #DontDoubleMyRate is being used by the Obama re-election campaign to promote the president’s student loan efforts.
A tweet on June 8 stated, “Obama Administration Works to Make College Costs Clear and Affordable. Read more.” It linked to a White House webpage. Another tweet that day said, “What is Obama’s ‘To Do List’ for Congress? What Texans should know!” A link was provided to a White House website that outlined many of Obama’s campaign talking points.
A final tweet on June 8 stated, “County Judge Clay Jenkins featured at TX Dem. Convention. Boyd Ritchie says he is ‘someone to watch.’ Read more.” A link to a Bryan/College Station news site was provided.
Dallas County public information officer Maria Arita said that the tweets in question originated from County Judge Clay Jenkins and were supposed to be posted to his Twitter account but were erroneously posted to the Dallas County Twitter account by her office. Even so, Arita contended that the information provided by the tweets were for the benefit of the citizens of Dallas County. “Those tweets linked to official government and White House websites,” she said. “There was some good information provided. We would have posted it regardless of who the president is. We would have posted it if Bush were still in office. I realize this is an election year. If they had linked to a campaign site, that would be different.”
The Dallas County Twitter account follows 103 other accounts, including the official White House Twitter account (@whitehouse) and the official Barack Obama campaign Twitter account (@BarackObama), which states that it is “run by #Obama2012 campaign staff.”
Emmert thinks immediate action should be taken to end these tweets. “There is no excuse for using taxpayer dollars and government resources to distribute partisan-based propaganda,” he said. “Ms. Arita clearly has a partisan intent. She regularly tweets about Barack Obama and the Democrats on the Commissioners Court, but never mentions Republicans Maurine Dickey or Mike Cantrell.
“No other county or city in North Texas abuses their Twitter accounts in the way Ms. Arita has abused Dallas County’s account. All the partisan tweets should be immediately removed, and Dallas County should develop a strict policy stating the appropriate use of the county’s social media accounts.”
Victor Medina has covered local issues as a Community Voices columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and his other writing credits include SportsIllustrated.com and Rivals.com. He has served as a member of the board of directors of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas.
Sources: Dallas County Twitter account, direct interviews with Maria Arita and Wade Emmert.
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