For a lot of people on Fort Worth's East Side, the die seemed to be cast on Jan. 2, when veteran city council member Frank Moss announced he was running for the Tarrant County Precinct One commissioner's seat being vacated by Dionne Bagsby.

The excitement wasn't because people hate Frank Moss -- in fact, most seem to think the 59-year-old real estate developer is a nice guy. But the problems in District 5 are mounting up -- unfinished parks, deteriorating housing, trash, crime -- and many people don't think Moss, in his six years on the council, has done enough to improve things. So his decision seemed to make it easy for those who had become increasingly frustrated with him. According to the city charter, the announcement that Moss was seeking another office meant that, in effect, he had resigned his council seat and a special election would be held to replace him. No one, therefore, had to go through the sticky process of trying to push out an incumbent. And those looking to replace Moss could all start on relatively equal ground.

That's what they thought until shortly after 4 p.m. on April 14. One day after he lost his race for the Democratic nomination as county commissioner -- and 44 minutes before the filing period closed for the special election for his seat -- Moss dropped his name in the pot to run for another city council term.

His last-minute action made the other candidates hotter than young love. Since then, several of his opponents and their supporters have been accusing Moss of using his influence to do everything from getting the candidate filing deadline moved beyond the county election date to violating the city charter by continuing to serve (and claiming the incumbent title) months after turning in his resignation -- admittedly, a confusing state of affairs.

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