Donald Jeffrey Large

Don Large (born May 30, 1975) is a perennial candidate for public office in Harris County, Texas.

He announced in 2012 that he would run for the Democratic nomination for the Harris County administrative County Judge position in the primary election held on March 4, 2014. However, he never filed for the race.^[1]

Personal life and career

He was licensed to practice law in the State of Texas on November 1, 2000 and entered the legal field as an associate at Woska & Hayes, LLP in Kingwood, Texas in the area of securities arbitration. He was further admitted to practice in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.^[2]

On January 19, 2006 Large voluntarily resigned his law license to avoid facing disciplinary action for spending the retainer of a client without having performed sufficient legal work. He had filed for bankruptcy, and was unable to repay the retainer to the client. As of 2012, he has not sought reinstatement of his law license.^[2][3][4]

Large's mother, Lynn Large, passed away on November 24, 2003. ^[5] In November 2011 he suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in a coma for 27 days, which he freely cites as a personal example of the need for healthcare refurm.^[6] On January 11, 2012 a lien was filed against Large by Memorial Hermann Northeast Medical Center for unpaid medical bills.^[7]

He was sued by principals of Woska & Hayes, LLP in January 2004 for allegedly stalking, harassing and assaulting employees following his termination on December 16, 2003. The judge in the case granted a restraining order against Large at the time the suit was filed, due to his repeated visits and phone calls to the firm and demands that the plaintiffs come to his home to speak to the cremated remains of his deceased mother. On at least one occasion he took his mother’s remains to the firm with him. He was also reported to have made threats of unspecified action against the firm’s principals, which caused employees of the firm to fear for their personal safety. The judge in the case granted a permanent injunction ordering him to stay away from the plaintiffs.^[8]

He founded a self-named political consulting firm on June 11, 2012.^[9]

Political career

Large was one of three candidates for the Republican nomination for Harris County Attorney in 2002 and received 1,918 votes out of 80,290 votes cast, or 2.39% of the total.^[10][11][12]

Large later ran for Texas State Representative, District 140 on the Republican Party ticket in 2004 and received 5,821 votes out of 17,822, or 32.55% of the total.^[13][14]

In 2010, Large was one of three candidates vying to replace incumbent Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill. His candidacy did not become viable because of a lack of campaign fundraising.^[15] He received 7,099 votes out of 117,757 votes cast, or 6.03% of the total.^[16][17]

In May 2012, Large issued a press release announcing he had switched parties to the Democratic Party on May 14, 2012, and subsequently voted in the Democratic Party primary election on May 29, 2012. He explained his change of political affiliation was due to his support of the Affordable Care Act following his stroke and hospitalization, and his view that Texas Republican tea party activists had shown their anti-Semitism through opposition of Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Joe Straus, who is like Large is Jewish.^[6]

On July 3, 2012, Large filed his intention to run for county judge. The seat has been held since March 2007 by the Republican Ed Emmett.^[1] Because Large never ran for the position, Emmett will instead face the unopposed Democratic nominee, Ahmed Robert Hassan, a real estate and mortgage broker.^[18]

Large vs. Obando

Large gained notoriety during the 2009 campaign of Houston City Council candidate Carlos Obando when he filed a breach of contract lawsuit after being fired as Obando’s campaign manager.

The lawsuit followed Large’s demand for a payment of $50,000 in severance, which was rebuffed by Obando. The suit sought $50,000 to $100,000 in damages, which included a claim for an unpaid win bonus, despite the fact that the election had not yet occurred (Obando later lost the election). Local weekly paper Houston Press covered the lawsuit in its popular Hairballs Column, due to the vivid imagery invoked by Large’s claims in the suit and ran an abridged quote from the lawsuit, “I would rather be raped than work any longer on your campaign, sir.” as a headline.^[3][19]

Craig Malisow revealed Large's statement that he would “rather have been tortured at Auschwitz for days” than work on Obando’s campaign, despite being Jewish himself. The suit also made reference to the impact of his mother’s death from cancer and claimed Large to be a senior Republican elected official in Harris County.^[3][19]

Large had filed the suit as a pro se litigant and sought a waiver of court costs through an affidavit of indigence. The judge in the case ruled against Large’s request for a waiver of fees, and the case was dismissed following his failure to pay court costs.^[19]

References