Montgomery County officials are indicted
Grand jury charges judge, pair of commissioners over roles in road bond proposal
County Judge Craig Doyal and two commissioners are accused of violating Texas’ open meetings law last year.
A grand jury has indicted Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal and two commissioners, charging them with violating Texas’ open meetings law last year while developing a bond package for new and improved roads.
Traffic-weary voters in the rapidly growing county approved the $280 million financing proposal, but the indictments left Doyal and Commissioners Jim Clark and Charlie Riley to face criminal charges for their actions in getting it on the ballot.
Grand jurors also charged Marc Davenport, an adviser who helped to broker a deal on the bond proposal. He is married to the county’s treasurer, Stephanne Davenport.
Chris Downey, the special prosecutor who presented the case to the grand jury over six months, said the misdemeanor charges are punishable by a fine up to $500, as many as six months in jail or both.
Downey said it’s too early to know whether the case will go to trial.
“Like any criminal matter, whether or not a matter goes to trial is going to be a function of further discovery and negotiation,” he said.
Doyal’s attorney said the judge denied wrongdoing and suggested that the allegations were politically motivated. Riley and Clark did not return calls for comment, and Davenport referred questions to his attorney, who could not be reached for comment.
Doyal, who is in his first term, “considers this a cowardly act from his political enemies who couldn’t beat him at the ballot box,” his attorney, John Choate, said.
Downey, a Houston-based attorney, rejected the idea that the charges were part of a political scheme.
“I am not aware of any political
motivations behind this prosecution,” said Downey, who was appointed to the case by former state District Judge Kelly Case. “Before this matter began, I couldn’t have identified a member of commissioners court without a hint.”
The long-simmering case centered on the days before the commissioners agreed to place the bond measure on the November ballot. Voters had rejected a $350 million proposal in May, and county officials were scrambling to meet the deadline for submitting items for the ballot.
The measure was placed on the ballot after county officials reached a lastminute agreement with the Texas Patriots PAC on a bond proposal.
The tea party group, which had opposed the bond in May, campaigned for the trimmed-down improvement plan and focused on winning over voters in The Woodlands, where the previous bond failed by a nearly 9-to-1 margin.
The group wasn’t charged by the grand jury for its role.
The commissioners would be in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act if they tried to conduct public business by phone, email or other means of correspondence without a quorum being physically present in one place.
The bond election was called on Aug. 24, the last day to place the bond on the ballot during a special meeting of commissioners court. The meeting was properly noticed.
Despite the legal issues with the commissioners’ action before the election, the voter-approved bond measure is not voidable, said JD Lambright, the county’s attorney.
“This is certainly a black eye for the county,” he said in an interview Friday. “I wish they would’ve consulted me before all of this. I bet they’re wishing they had, too.”
Lambright said the county isn’t legally allowed to represent or counsel the commissioners on ongoing criminal matters.
Choate said he expects Doyal to vigorously contest the charges.
“With the judge, if they want to dismiss it they can,” Choate said. “But short of that, I don’t see any sort of resolution the judge will accept.”