San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Harris Co. judge: Election lawsuit is ‘bogus’
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo had sharp words for “the mattress guy” in response to a lawsuit against the county filed by Houston furniture magnate Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.
McIngvale filed a lawsuit last week accusing the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office of refusing to turn over public records related to the November 2022 election, adding to an array of GOP litigation aimed at the county’s elections process.
Hidalgo argued McIngvale’s lawsuit is about more than just public records, calling it part of a trend of denying election results following in the footsteps of former President Donald Trump and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.
“It’s almost comical,” Hidalgo said. “In Harris County, we’re not only enduring the pillow guy, but we’ve got to deal with the mattress guy, too.”
The impacts of the litigation are not funny, Hidalgo added.
“It’s real democracy. It’s real people who came out and voted, and real folks who were duly elected. And it’s important to protect our democracy. We’ve got now the mattress guy attempting to sow doubt in the election with a bogus lawsuit to prop up election denialism in order to — I don’t know what — finance his profits? Get some free press? Ultimately, those that are harmed are the residents of the county and the faith in our democratic process,” Hidalgo said. According to the petition, Wayne Dolcefino, a media consultant and former TV journalist, submitted multiple requests for public information on behalf of the Gallery Furniture owner, who was a major donor supporting Republican candidates, including Hidalgo’s opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer.
Among Dolcefino’s requests was a detailed phone record for Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum, including text and phone messages. He also sought Tatum’s emails on Election Day, all email communications between Tatum and Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ office, maintenance records for voting machines, information about ballot paper allotment and communications on Election Day between the elections office and the election judges presiding over polling locations.
“We want to know from the Harris County election board whether this was incompetence, negligence, corruption or a combination of all three,” McIngvale said.
In response to each of the requests for public information, the elections office responded by seeking an opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, allowing it to withhold the information due to ongoing litigation, the lawsuit states.
The petition also acknowledges the county has provided some of the requested documents.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee’s office said: “The requests for these documents were handled the same as any other requests for documents related to ongoing litigation against the county. We’re evaluating the lawsuit and will let the courts sort it out.”
The elections office has responded with a statement saying it has followed the law, staff has responded to requests that do not require documents subject to the litigation, and the office has sought an opinion from the attorney general on those that do.
Bill Aleshire, an Austin attorney who works with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said the lawsuit is a good example of why the Texas Legislature should repeal the “litigation exception” provision in state law that offers public offices an option to withhold records during litigation.
“There is no justification for denying the public information about a controversy just because it involves litigation,” Aleshire said. “In fact, when something controversial enough happens to be the subject of a lawsuit, that is exactly when the public most needs to know what the record shows. Yet, the way the (Texas Public Information Act) is written, no one — except those involved in the underlying lawsuit — can get access to the public information.”
McIngvale’s lawsuit comes more than a month after 22 unsuccessful Republican candidates filed lawsuits in Harris County challenging the results of the November election, including Mealer, who lost her race by around 18,000 votes and conceded the contest the morning after Election Day.
McIngvale engaged Dolcefino’s firm months ago to investigate the 2022 election, which also faces scrutiny from a Texas Rangers criminal investigation, a Harris County Republican Party lawsuit alleging violations of the Texas Election Code and a forensic audit by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office for which Harris County was randomly selected.
Earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joined other GOP state officials calling for Harris County to redo its election because of claims that voters were turned away due to alleged paper ballot shortages, though acknowledging he had no idea how many voters were actually disenfranchised, if any.