Thursday, April 18, 2024
Almost a month after a petition was submitted to the Hood County Commissioners Court requesting an investigation into whether Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle lives in the precinct he represents, a petition was submitted calling for an abuse of authority investigation of County Judge Ron Massingill.
Massingill told the Hood County News that he supports independent investigations on behalf of both petitions.
“I totally welcome that investigation because I have done absolutely nothing incorrect, illegal, or wrong,” he said on Wednesday, May 11, the day after the regular meeting of the Commissioners Court where Van Vernon submitted a petition against him signed by 133 signatories.
The petition asks for an investigation “pursuant to Article V, Section 24 of the Texas Constitution” into whether Massingill committed “offenses against the public administration” under Chapter 39 of the Texas Penal Code — “namely, abuse of office,” Vernon stated from the podium.
Like the petition against Eagle, the petition against Massingill requests the issuance of subpoenas.
Where Eagle is concerned, petitioners asked for a court order to obtain utility bills for the mobile home he owns in Oak Trail Shores, and that those bills be compared to homes of similar size.
Oak Trail Shores is in Precinct 4, but some believe that Eagle resides in Lipan, which is in Precinct 1. He owns two businesses there.
Rumors about Eagle’s place of residence have persisted since he first ran for the Precinct 4 seat in 2018. Recent changes in the law, which were in effect when he filed to run for a second term, could threaten his seat and his placement on the November ballot.
The submission of that petition during the April 12 Commissioners Court meeting caused a firestorm, some of which has been directed at Massingill, who presides over the court.
At the April 26 Commissioners Court meeting, attended by supporters of Eagle, Massingill asked Sheriff Roger Deeds to remove Republican Party Chair-elect Steve Biggers for behavior at the podium that appeared to contradict rules for decorum that the court adopted on Feb. 9, 2021.
When the petition against Eagle was brought forward, Massingill and others on the court were unclear on how to proceed, whether they even had any authority to do so, and whether the proper course of action is for a lawsuit to be filed by a citizen in district court.
The matter is further complicated by the law changes and Eagle’s current candidacy for a second term. Zach Maxwell, whom Eagle defeated in the Republican primary, and Grant Wood, a Democrat who will be on the November ballot for the Precinct 4 seat, both told the HCN that they are considering lawsuits.
Massingill denied any involvement with the petition against Eagle.
“I was not even aware of it until it was already circulating,” he said.
The petition against Massingill, which Eagle signed, seeks subpoenas “for all records, correspondence, and other documents showing all communications and activities conducted by Judge Ron Massingill using county resources with his private law firm in Dallas and/or any other outside entity not related to county business and to determine how many hours of county labor the Judge utilized for his own personal business.”
IT DIRECTOR WEIGHS IN
Massingill, who is in a May 24 runoff against Mark Shackelford, said that he has never instructed his staff to do anything illegal. He said that in 2019, the year he took office, he spent about a day and a half finishing up two trials in Dallas, “which I’m allowed to do.”
He added, “Other than that, I’ve been here every day at my job here.”
On Tuesday, Drew Wiederkehr, chief information officer for the county’s IT department, issued a letter addressing the accusations about Massingill and the Dallas law firm where he has been a partner. His office has handled some open records requests pertaining to the matter.
Wiederkehr wrote that a majority of the emails involving “BNM Dallas” were “mailer” type emails from the Hood County Republican Party or the Hood County Sheriff’s Posse as well as press releases and agendas — “something that anyone can sign up for.”
He wrote that some of the emails were from county employees, “usually due to having him as a contact from before he was elected as County Judge, and never updating it. In these situations, that is on the sender to correct that, as it is not in anyone’s control but them.”
Such situations are “extremely common,” the IT director wrote.
“In short,” Wiederkehr’s letter reads, “at no point has the Hood County Information Technology Office witnessed anything that could be labeled as ‘Misuse of County property for personal gain,’ nor has any County data been in any kind of risk, and there are other employees be they elected, appointed or hired, who not only do the same thing, but do it far more often.”
Massingill said that the letter “is just a total exoneration.”
