During Monday’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners, Brown County resident Daniel Graham, during the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, disputed Brown County Judge Shane Britton’s claim that Brown County Democratic Chair Mike Bullard had been contacted regarding the appointement of new elections administrator.

Bullard on April 7 filed a complaint with the Texas Office of the State Commission on Judicial Misconduct over Britton’s election-related misconduct.

In the complaint, Chairman Bullard alleged that Britton appointed an Election Administrator (EA) without following the proper process to do so.

Britton responded by stating:

“The position of county elections administrator is filled by appointment by the county election commission, which consists of the county judge, as chair; the county clerk, as vice chair; the county tax assessor-collector, as secretary; and the county chair of each political party that made nominations by primary election for the last general election for state and county officers preceding the date of the meeting at which the appointment is made. Upon calling a meeting, the chairman shall set the date, hour, and place for the meeting and shall deliver written notice of the time and place to each other commission member not later than the fourth day before the meeting date. Additionally, the meetings are subject to the Open Meetings Act, so notice must be posted at the Courthouse in a public place at least 72 hours before the meeting.

“All members of the commission were provided notice of the meeting at which Mrs. Arp was appointed more than 4 days in advance and notice was posted at the courthouse for more than 72 hours.

“The vote to appoint Mrs. Arp was a unanimous vote of the members present. Since the meeting I have had the chance to meet with the one person who was unable to attend the meeting and he agreed that Mrs. Arp was immensely qualified for the position and indicated that he would have voted for her if he had been present. Her qualifications to perform the job are unimpeachable and the citizens of Brown County are fortunate to have someone of her experience and work ethic in that job.”

Both Graham and Britton sent the following comments to the BrownwoodNews.com regarding their sides to Monday’s dispute:

DANIEL GRAHAM

Nobody likes getting the runaround.  And it’s even worse when the person giving the runaround is a judge.  So when Brown County Judge Shane Britton wouldn’t answer Mike Bullard’s questions, Bullard filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Bullard’s complaint was that he wasn’t given the required statutory notice of the County Election Commission’s meeting last Feb. 21 that appointed new County Elections Administrator Brenda Arp.  Bullard is a member of the Elections Commission, and chairman of the Brown County Democratic Party.  Other members of the Commission are Judge Britton, County Clerk Sharon Ferguson, County Tax Assessor-Collector Christine Pentecost, and Brown County Republican Party chairman Robert Porter.

As a Brown County voter, and having been a clerk, alternate judge, and judge for many Brown County elections, I take an active interest in the Elections Dept.  I decided to try to find out for myself what actually happened, or didn’t.  Mr. Bullard provided me with a copy of his complaint, which included the relevant statutes from the Texas Election Code.

The complaint went beyond the failure to notify Bullard of the Elections Commission meeting.  The Elections Code also requires Mr. Britton to file a signed copy of the resolution or order appointing the new elections administrator with the county clerk, who then must deliver a certified copy of that document to the secretary of state.

It was time for me to check in with Judge Britton. He replied promptly to my email, but it was my turn to get the runaround.  He didn’t answer my questions either, but instead denied and minimized the complaint.  He assured me that Mr. Bullard had indeed been notified (without saying how or when) and that, in any case, Mr. Bullard’s presence at the Election Commission meeting would not have affected the decision of the commission to appoint Mrs. Arp as the new elections administrator.

Judge Britton closed his response to me with a comment that I found both odd and alarming:  “I am completely confident that the spirit of the law regarding the appointments of Election Administrators was followed, and that the appointment of Mrs. Arp was appropriate and legal.”  I found this odd, because he implied himself that he did not follow the letter of the law.  I found this alarming because the “spirit of the law” is a subjective standard that is irrelevant. 

Since the law requires notice, it doesn’t matter what the “spirit of the law” is.  Either notice was given, or it wasn’t.  And these days, where nearly every official action leaves an electronic or digital footprint, it is typically simple to confirm what action was taken, and when and how.

Let this be a wake-up call to every citizen of Brown County to be diligent, and be vigilant that our elected officials perform their statutory duties according to the law.  When they don’t, please follow Mr. Bullard’s example, and speak up and speak out.

SHANE BRITTON

In a previous article on Brownwoodnews.com on April 10 about a complaint being filed by the Democratic Party against me with the Judicial Commission, I misspoke about the notices that had been sent out prior to the meeting.  I had been misinformed that notice of the meeting had been sent directly to each of the other 4 members of the Brown County Election commission. While notice of the meeting was distributed via email to media members in Brown County, as well as being posted on the front of the courthouse, I have since determined that no such notice was sent to Mike Bullard, Democratic Party Chairman. I was misinformed that he was one of the 4 individuals of the elections committee notified and he was not. Mike Bullard did not receive notice of the meeting, as required by the Secretary of State of Texas in electing a new election administrator.  This was a simple clerical error, and no ill intent was intended. If I make a mistake, I will be the first to admit my mistake and apologize. Since I am the chairman of the Elections Commission, I have the ultimate responsibility for seeing that each member is notified, and I failed. I have extended my apologies to Mr. Bullard and the Brown County Democratic Party.