Fort Bend County Commissioners Court is slated to convene at 1 p.m. Thursday, but no one knows for sure if Daniel Wong will be sitting in the judge’s seat.
Wong, the Republican nominee for the position, is on the November ballot and was appointed interim judge in April by visiting District Judge Jeth Jones, a Republican from Galveston. Critics say it was an effort to sway the pending election in favor of the GOP.
But the appointment ended June 17, according to Commissioner Dexter McCoy, the Democratic nominee for county judge. McCoy said he expects County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson to issue a legal opinion on the matter prior to Thursday’s meeting. The commissioner said he’s also requested a legal opinion from the district attorney’s office.
“He’s not the county judge anymore. Period,” McCoy said of Wong. “He no longer has any legal basis for holding the office. Daniel Wong has absolutely zero authority to continue to carry out duties as county judge.”
Wong’s office did not respond Tuesday to multiple text messages, calls and emails. He does not appear to have abandoned his office; Wong posted from the official county judge’s social media pages on Monday about an aerial mosquito spraying program and three policies that were adopted at the June 11 commissioners court meeting.
Jones had the authority to appoint an interim because, at the time, he was presiding over a First Amendment case involving former County Judge KP George. Jones suspended George from office and appointed Wong with the stipulation that the appointment would end once the civil case was disposed of. That occurred on June 17, the day after George was sentenced to jail time for felony money laundering.
“That judge signed the order and canceled all interlocutory orders, one of those being the one that appointed Daniel Wong. It’s moot. That case is gone,” McCoy said. “And with KP George having been removed from office in his felony case, though he is appealing, the judge still found it in the public’s best interest to suspend him pending his final appeal.”
George’s attorney Jared Woodfill, confirmed Tuesday that the court is upholding George’s suspension and prohibiting George from returning to commissioners court.
McCoy said Wong is not a “legally seated member of commissioners court,” and so, functionally, the court is composed of two Democrats — Prestage and McCoy — and two Republicans, Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales.
“If Daniel Wong is there on Thursday and continues to attempt to carry out duties, there’s going to be a bit of a fight,” McCoy said. “We cannot take action with him sitting there as a member of court because all of those actions could be undone if any person decided to challenge them.”
Longtime Commissioner Grady Prestage, who has been elected eight times since 1990 and is the longest-serving member of the court, was appointed presiding officer during George’s legal battles in March and remained in the role for about a month until Wong’s appointment. McCoy said it’s likely the court will return to the presiding officer model but it’s not posted for discussion on Thursday’s agenda.
“We already took action on that before in a past commissioners court session where it’s an automatic sort of activated action,” McCoy said. “We may have to come back in a subsequent court or a special commissioners court meeting to reaffirm that but by state law, in the absence of the county judge, the most senior member serves as the presiding officer. In this case, we have an absent county judge.”
Within days of being sworn into office in April, Wong hired Trever Nehls, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Congressional seat currently held by Nehls’ twin brother Troy, offering him a six-figure salary, well above what other Fort Bend County employees earn. The Nehls brothers are known to be die-hard MAGA Trump supporters. Another contentious hire was that of Republican political commentator Bobby Eberle as communications director for the judge’s office.
Wong has since been at odds with the two Democrats on the court who have accused him of disrespect and railroading new policies without seeking public input. In a June 11 meeting, Prestage accused Wong of exhibiting poor leadership after Wong interrupted McCoy and refused to answer questions about agenda items; Wong responded by saying he wanted to be shown respect and referred to as “Judge Wong” rather than “Mr. Wong.”
McCoy said he doesn’t know whether Wong will try to resume his duties on Thursday. “I do fully suspect that he and Trever Nehls and Bobby Eberle will try to find a way to claim that he does not have to leave,” McCoy said. “He may very well show up on Thursday.”
