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​Nearly three months after he told us that Tanya Watkins -- the wife of District Attorney Craig Watkins -- working as a campaign consultant for judicial candidates posed an "ethical dilemma" for the couple and presented "the potential appearance of impropriety," Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman was quoted in yesterday's Dallas Morning News regarding Tanya's gig. "It's one more brick in the wall," he told The News. "One more reason for voters in Dallas County to oppose Watkins." This prompted an e-mail, which can be read after the jump, from Watkins' campaign sent at 10:22 last night to supporters featuring photos of both Craig and Tanya. In the missive, Craig writes: "I personally take issue with Mr. Neerman" for, among other things, mounting "an attack against my wife and family." Tanya hasn't responded to a message left on her cell phone, and Jamille Bradfield, Craig's spokesperson, says he is out of town and unavailable until Monday. Neerman, however, tells Unfair Park that he's surprised Watkins singled him out because he viewed his comment as "fairly innocuous," especially when compared to the statements in the same story from Craig McDonald and Lynn Pride Richardson, who both called it "a conflict of interest." "It raises the appearance of impropriety when a family member is a political consultant for candidates in Dallas County, and the voters have a right to question that," Neerman says. "If he has such tunnel vision that he doesn't see that voters would raise questions about this, then I can't help him."

If the story about DA Craig Watkins refusing a second attempt by the OAG to help investigate the constables was news, that's news to us.​For those who didn't read our cover story last week, the Office of the Attorney General made a second attempt on February 23 to lend a helping hand to District Attorney Craig Watkins in a criminal investigation of the Dallas County constables. In August 2009, Watkins said, um, no thanks. This time, the OAG got a taste of what it's like trying to get a response from Watkins as a reporter. The DA simply hasn't responded. Obviously, WFAA's Brett Shipp and the Ed Timms-Kevin Krause reporting duo at The Dallas Morning News were among those who missed our piece. Included in the comments below the online version of today's DMN story, "txholdm" asked: "Hey DMN why don't you report the link of Watkins' personal attorney and the Constables? He represents both of them. They are all eggs in the same basket." We're guessing the commenter was attempting to point out the cozy relationship between Royce West and Watkins, although West only represents Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans, while Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes is represented by Domingo Garcia and Larry Friedman. Of course, this is something we made clear in our story, as in: "Commissioner Price has donated to both their campaigns, and powerful Democratic State Senator Royce West, a mentor to District Attorney Watkins and the largest contributor to his campaign, serves as Evans' attorney." What we weren't able to fit in the story, however, were the thoughts of Dallas lawyer Bill Wirskye on the matter. Wirskye, a former chief felony prosecutor for the DA's Office from 2000 to 2005, says the West-Watkins relationship raises questions about Watkins's willingness to prosecute Evans and ability to prosecute him objectively. "If his biggest donor is the defense lawyer in the case, then I think he may need to think twice about whether he's the right person and his office is the proper office to investigate and prosecute it because there's always going to be that cloud of suspicion that it's politically motivated one way or another," he says.

If the story about DA Craig Watkins refusing a second attempt by the OAG to help investigate the constables was news, that's news to us.​For those who didn't read our cover story last week, the Office of the Attorney General made a second attempt on February 23 to lend a helping hand to District Attorney Craig Watkins in a criminal investigation of the Dallas County constables. In August 2009, Watkins said, um, no thanks. This time, the OAG got a taste of what it's like trying to get a response from Watkins as a reporter. The DA simply hasn't responded. Obviously, WFAA's Brett Shipp and the Ed Timms-Kevin Krause reporting duo at The Dallas Morning News were among those who missed our piece. Included in the comments below the online version of today's DMN story, "txholdm" asked: "Hey DMN why don't you report the link of Watkins' personal attorney and the Constables? He represents both of them. They are all eggs in the same basket." We're guessing the commenter was attempting to point out the cozy relationship between Royce West and Watkins, although West only represents Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans, while Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes is represented by Domingo Garcia and Larry Friedman. Of course, this is something we made clear in our story, as in: "Commissioner Price has donated to both their campaigns, and powerful Democratic State Senator Royce West, a mentor to District Attorney Watkins and the largest contributor to his campaign, serves as Evans' attorney." What we weren't able to fit in the story, however, were the thoughts of Dallas lawyer Bill Wirskye on the matter. Wirskye, a former chief felony prosecutor for the DA's Office from 2000 to 2005, says the West-Watkins relationship raises questions about Watkins's willingness to prosecute Evans and ability to prosecute him objectively. "If his biggest donor is the defense lawyer in the case, then I think he may need to think twice about whether he's the right person and his office is the proper office to investigate and prosecute it because there's always going to be that cloud of suspicion that it's politically motivated one way or another," he says.