At Thursday’s Fort Bend County Commissioners Court meeting, an empty seat highlighted the absence of County Judge KP George, who was recently convicted of felony money laundering.
Although George didn’t attend the meeting, he’s still the county judge. Commissioners can’t remove him, but they discussed the situation during a closed session and then appointed Grady Prestage, the longest-serving member of the court, as the “temporary presiding officer,” which automatically makes him emergency management director.
Prestage said the court needed to “keep county government functioning” and framed the decision as procedural and about continuity. The commissioner was first elected in 1990 and frequently presides over meetings when George is absent, including during the county judge’s trial, the first phase of which ended on March 20.
Legal experts, including those at the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office who prosecuted George, have said that, under Texas local government code, George is automatically removed from office upon conviction because of the nature of the charge. However, according to Assistant DA Wesley Wittig, the conviction isn’t complete until sentencing, which happens on June 16.
“The law says [removal from office occurs] ‘immediately upon conviction,’ but the removal language is in the judgment and the judgment cannot be complete until we have a punishment,” Wittig said. “It’s all one document. The way we look at trial, we’re not done until we do punishment. He can’t even appeal his conviction until we finish punishment.”
If he doesn’t resign and if there’s no order of suspension from a judge, George could continue to collect a paycheck from Fort Bend County until he’s sentenced, even though Prestage will be presiding over court. Although George was handcuffed and taken into custody following his conviction, he bonded out that evening and some government watchdogs had expected he’d show up for commissioners court this week.
Criminal appeals can take years to resolve, but if George goes that route, it won’t keep him in office past the mid-June sentencing. Even without the local government code provision, he’d be out by the end of the year because he came in last out of five candidates in the GOP primary earlier this month. Republican Daniel Wong won the primary outright; Democrats Dexter McCoy, the Precinct 4 commissioner, and Sugar Land Municipal Court Associate Judge Rachelle Carter will face off in a May runoff.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston and author of Scandal: Why Politicians Survive Controversy in a Partisan Era, said the best-case scenario would be for George to “resign for the greater good.”
“Hopefully he’ll save himself and everyone else the embarrassment,” Rottinghaus said. “I don’t know what he’ll do. He’s dug in pretty hard. He fought back on these things, so I don’t know what his mindset is right now. Given the way that he’s been and the way he fought these charges, he probably wants to keep protesting his innocence.”
George was convicted of taking $46,500 in campaign donations and spending it on personal items including a down payment on a home. His attorneys Jared Woodfill and Terry Yates argued that he was repaying himself for a campaign loan and accused DA Brian Middleton of prosecutorial misconduct and pursuing a political vendetta, allegations the prosecutor has denied.
Rottinghaus speculated before Thursday’s meeting that commissioners would have to figure out ways to strip George of his power.
“It’ll be messy,” Rottinghaus said. “We’re entering hurricane season. We could flood at any second. Dexter McCoy implied that they’d try to do something about it, but there’s not much they can do. They can spend their days trying to outrun him and move around him but that’s going to be a busy nine months between now and when he leaves office.”
The court is composed of two Democratic commissioners: McCoy and Prestage. Prestage is the longest serving member of commissioners court and is up for re-election. He won his primary and will face Republican Tony Aranda in November. Commissioners Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales are Republicans. While there’s no county judge and a 2-2 party split on the commissioners court, a tie vote means a motion fails.
Special prosecutor Brian Wice, appointed by the DA’s office to assist with the case against George, issued a statement following the conviction that demonstrates a sentiment of vindication among those who pursued charges against the judge.
“The jury’s verdict fortifies the belief that the defense’s incessant, inane, and ultimately unavailing attacks on the character, reputation, and integrity of Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton, and trial prosecutors Charann Thompson and Katie Peterson, were, in the end, no match for the cold, hard, and unrelenting truth that this defendant was guilty of the felony offenses of money laundering,” Wice said.
A jury handed down George’s guilty verdict, but District Judge Maggie Jaramillo, at George’s request, will decide the punishment. He could face up to 10 years in prison, but probation is also an option. There’s also the possibility of “shock probation,” meaning, if that’s his sentence, he’ll serve up to 180 days in prison and complete the rest of his sentence on probation.
When asked what the DA’s office is requesting for punishment, Wittig said, “We’re not there yet.” The punishment phase will include character witnesses from both sides. Jaramillo is a Republican seeking re-election in November. George switched parties to the GOP last year after being elected twice as a Democrat.
Rottinghaus has said the “scandal” of switching parties is often harder to overcome than a criminal conviction. Politics aside, the professor said it’s unlikely George will get the maximum because he’s a first-time offender.
“Given the nature of the crime and that he’s so visible, they may want to make a bit of an example out of him,” he said. “They also can’t just throw the book totally at him. I don’t know what they’ll do but my guess is they’ll probably split the difference and give him a little bit of prison time and a long probation sentence.”