Note from Editor: Living Blue in Texas is publishing this press release because we believe that it’s a topic of interest to our Collin County readers. Living Blue in Texas has no affiliation with either Collin County Young Democrats or the Collin County Democratic Party.

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After the public acknowledgement of John Stafford being under indictment, and releasing himself on bail, we have witnessed some members of Democratic leadership try to defend these actions, without allowing the legal system to sort the details out in court. Due to these actions and others, we feel compelled to make our own statement.

While we believe everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and cannot speak to the current allegations, we can speak to issues John Stafford has been involved with within the party. John Stafford has a long history of questionable behavior, which has resulted in him being removed from positions of power, not once, but twice, due to unethical business practices and a long list of complaints from former candidates of mistreatment. The fact that John can continue to find himself in leadership positions, we believe, is in part, due to the County Chair, Mike Rawlins, failing to do more for his removal.

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To some of you, this may come as a surprise. But others have seen this trend continue. You may
remember during the 2020 primary elections when Collin County Young Democrats President wrote a Medium article on her experience at the polls with John Stafford. Despite a push to remove him from leadership within the Collin County Democratic Party, he has continued to find ways to stake his claim on their leadership team. This is unacceptable.

John Stafford has a history of bullying Collin County Young Democrats candidates, including one just last cycle in the municipal races. The same municipal races he is now being investigated for.

It is apparently time for him though, as he recently filed to run himself.

Since putting his name on the ballot, John Stafford has tried to fundraise off the murder of Marvin Scott III who died in custody of the Collin County Jail. During the events surrounding Marvin Scott III’s death, many of our members showed up daily, for months, in support of Marvin’s family and friends. While we understand not everyone can, or will, show up for moments like Marvin Scott III’s death. We do not remember seeing John Stafford, at any of these events, and to top that off, on his website, he lists incorrect details of Marvin Scott III’s name as well as the date of the murder. It is troublesome.

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The Collin County Young Democrats have repeatedly called out John Stafford as a liability to the
Democratic Party for years. Whether guilty or not of the current allegations, there is a history of
questionable behavior. We cannot continue this trend and we cannot let others stand in the way of progress.

For this reason, we are calling for Mike Rawlins and anyone who has enabled this type of behavior to resign. And though John Stafford has finally stepped down as the financial officer of the party, we also call on John Stafford to withdraw from the November 2022 election as a candidate for office. We need representation that stands up for Democratic values, we don’t believe John Stafford and Mike Rawlins to be it.

Signed,
Collin County Young Democrats’ Executive Board