The district judge responsible for deciding whether Daniel Wong’s interim appointment remains valid — despite a lawsuit claiming it’s not — is a known supporter of Wong, critics allege, calling into question a possible conflict of interest.
Two weeks have passed since Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson filed a legal complaint alleging that Wong’s appointment as interim county judge expired on June 17 and he should not be presiding over commissioners court while the matter is under legal review — and yet Wong continues to run meetings.
That’s because Wong was ordered by a court of law to serve in that position, Wong’s spokesman Bobby Eberle told the Houston Press on Tuesday. “The holdover provision of the Texas Constitution says you’ve got to do your job until told otherwise,” Eberle said.
Wong, who was appointed to the role on April 10 by Jeth Jones, a visiting Republican judge from Galveston, has consistently maintained his assignment did not expire when the case over which Jones was presiding was “non-suited.” However, Wong’s critics say they believe the withdrawal of a civil case against former County Judge KP George that allowed Jones to make the appointment in the first place also voided Wong’s appointment.
Wong is the GOP nominee for Fort Bend County judge and will face Democratic nominee Dexter McCoy, the Precinct 4 commissioner, for the full term in November. George lost the Republican primary to Wong in March and subsequently was convicted of felony money laundering, which he is appealing.
Wong sued the county attorney’s office on July 6, challenging Smith-Lawson’s legal opinion that his interim appointment expired. Smith-Lawson countersued, and Wong dropped his legal challenge, saying at the time that he saw no need to litigate the same issues in two separate court cases. Wong’s case had landed in the 248th District Court, where a Democratic judge presides.
The matter now lies in the hands of Republican District Judge Edward Krenek because that’s where Smith-Lawson’s “quo warranto” filing was assigned. Krenek and Wong are both prominent figures in the Fort Bend County Republican Party, and some critics have said that the two are close friends, suggesting that Krenek and his wife Tricia, a justice of the peace, were photographed “campaigning” for Wong as recently as July 3.
Photos of Krenek and Wong allegedly appeared on the Daniel Wong for Fort Bend County Judge social media page and were later removed, said two members of the Fort Bend Democratic Party who asked to remain anonymous. Krenek did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday on either the status of the case or whether he has campaigned for Wong.
Wong’s critics say they expect Krenek to “slow roll” the case filed by Smith-Lawson and let the clock run out so Wong remains the interim judge until the November 3 election and gets the advantage of being the incumbent, even though he’s never been elected to that post.
Eberle said Fort Bend County Republicans frequently see each other at events and occasionally photos are taken. “That doesn’t reflect any sort of special relationship,” he said. “I think that is just low-hanging fruit for the Democrats to complain about. Judge Wong handles his office very seriously and I know Judge Krenek does too. They’re both professionals and they’ll continue to do their jobs.”
Eberle said he didn’t have any insight into when a ruling would be made, only that Krenek’s court accepted the quo warranto motion filed by Smith-Lawson. “Our legal team is fully prepared to respond but we don’t know the exact timeline right now,” Eberle said.
While it’s unknown if or when Krenek will rule on Smith-Lawson’s lawsuit, another Republican judge embroiled in the matter is set to hold a hearing on Thursday, July 23. Jones, the judge who appointed Wong in April, was asked by former plaintiff Sarah Roberts to clarify whether his June 17 nonsuit order automatically ended Wong’s appointment. Eberle said he didn’t expect any action to come from that hearing. “The case was nonsuited, and I don’t think there’s anything the judge needs to say or can say on a case that’s been closed for over a month,” he said.
Back in April, Jones had been presiding over a civil matter brought against George by Roberts, alleging that George violated her First Amendment rights by not allowing her to speak in a public meeting. Jones removed George from office and appointed Wong but when Roberts withdrew her lawsuit on June 17, some — including the county attorney — say that nullified Wong’s appointment.
If a judge is absent from commissioners court, it’s standard practice for the longest-serving member to act as a presiding officer. Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage, a Democrat, has assumed that role in the past and has said he expected to do so again, but Wong refused to step aside while the matter was being resolved in the courts.
On Thursday, July 23, members of Indivisible Fort Bend are gathering at the courthouse at noon prior to the 1 p.m. commissioners court meeting to demand that Wong leave office. Protesters are encouraged to sign up to speak during the meeting but advised that they can’t take their signs inside the courtroom. “Wong has had over a month with no legal authority to hold that office. Thursday, we make sure that stops,” organizer Terri Webster wrote on the event page. “Bring a neighbor. Every seat filled is a message they can’t ignore.”
Thursday’s commissioners court will be the fourth meeting Wong has presided over since McCoy and Prestage walked out on June 25, saying they didn’t want to participate in a meeting that could be illegal. Every contract approved while Wong is presiding could be challenged in court and thrown out, McCoy has said.
McCoy told the Press this week that he continues to do business for the people of Fort Bend County each day but he’s not going to sit in commissioners court as long as Wong is in charge.
“Our main job is to pave roads and pay the bills,” McCoy said. “None of that requires Wong’s participation. He is making himself the center issue preventing me and Commissioner Prestage from doing our jobs. That has everything to do with his politics and not our community’s problems.”
“Daniel Wong is calling on the county attorney or anyone else to produce an order to remove him from office, but the way that civil law works is that the onus is on him to show a legitimate, current order from a judge to perform these duties,” McCoy added.
Meanwhile, Eberle claims that the Democrats are creating the very political theater they claim to oppose.
“There are accusations coming from the Democrats that are not based on fact; they are not based on law,” Eberle said. “This whole thing originated with the Democrat county attorney expressing an opinion and making it as though it’s the rule of a judge. Judge Wong was appointed by Judge Jones. That was an official judicial action and it will take a similar action to change that course or to verify that course, but not an opinion from an attorney.”
The tension between Fort Bend County’s political parties has underscored the distrust for government in a purple community that’s already had its fair share of political scandals in the past year.
George, twice elected as a Democrat, switched parties in 2025 amid his legal troubles but came in last in a crowded race in the March primary. The Fort Bend County Republican Party has backed Wong’s efforts to remain in the interim post, saying on social media that “the people of Fort Bend deserve leaders who take the county’s business seriously.”
Wong has said that the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court unanimously confirmed his appointment during an April meeting, authorizing him to preside through the end of the year. McCoy said Monday that the vote was a formality on the consent agenda, a measure that simply entered Wong’s oath of office into the record.
“All of this is crazy-making,” McCoy said. “They know that they don’t have a legitimate argument so they’re trying to throw mud and see what sticks. What we did back in April was typical procedure in filing a piece of paper, and that was recording into the minutes his oath of office. That oath of office sets a term. It follows the office-holder’s term, which was through the end of the year. Once his appointment was over, that oath of office was voided. We did not have any authority to appoint him and their claim otherwise is an outright lie.”
Commissioner Andy Meyers, the longest-serving Republican on the court, is also supporting Wong. Meyers issued a statement last week saying the court would not halt consideration of agenda items affecting McCoy’s and Prestage’s precincts just because those commissioners aren’t attending meetings.
“Every time Commissioners Court meets, the public sees empty chairs where elected officials should be sitting,” Meyers said. “This may create a powerful visual, but the people of Fort Bend County expect more than symbolism. They expect their elected officials to show up, do their jobs and keep county government working.”
Meyers suggested that Prestage and McCoy, who “claim Commissioners Court cannot legally conduct business because they disagree with the legal status of the county judge,” continue to place items on the agenda for their precincts. Eberle echoed the sentiment and said that if the Democratic commissioners want projects approved in their precincts, they should show up to court to advocate for them.
“They’re claiming that all this activity is basically illegal, that these aren’t real meetings, and yet they’re putting items on the agenda that support — whether directly or through engineering or other departments — their precincts,” he said. “They’re expecting action to be taken on them, which kind of seems outrageous. If you feel like these meetings aren’t valid, then you should reach out to the departments and say, anything regarding Precinct 2 or 4, let’s hold off on. It just doesn’t make sense. Either they think the meetings are illegal or they don’t. It really tends to reveal that this is just political posturing.”
McCoy said he hasn’t placed any items on the agenda since he walked out of the July 25 meeting, but reiterated that he is continuing to work with constituents and do business every day. Meanwhile, Wong has refused to appear alongside McCoy at candidate forums “until the Precinct 4 commissioner returns to work.”
“Doing so would only reward and normalize his refusal to serve the people of Fort Bend County,” Wong wrote on his Facebook page last week. Some forums have been canceled, but McCoy says he’s continuing to appear at events where he’s invited so he can interact with the people who elected him and those he hopes will go to the polls in November.
McCoy will be at the Fort Bend Regional Partnership at 8 a.m. Thursday, July 23, to discuss the future of the county. Following that event, he and Prestage will meet with constituents at 10 a.m. on the second floor of the courthouse with a representative from the county attorney’s office.
“Recognizing recent impediments to County business brought by recent events, Commissioners Prestage and McCoy wish to ensure Fort Bend County residents receive transparent and accurate information regarding active legal matters and updates on the business impacting them,” the Democratic commissioners said in a statement. “This will also be an opportunity for residents to connect with the Commissioners, ask questions on precinct projects, and voice any concerns that they may have regarding county business.”
While Wong has claimed that Smith-Lawson’s legal complaint is political theater, and his supporters have said that the Democrats are trying to bully him out of an office he was rightfully appointed to, Smith-Lawson maintains she’s following the law.
“This is not partisan or personal, it is institutional,” she said in a statement earlier this month. “Every action to undermine the legal authority of this office, myself and the 22 attorneys in my office, is an attack on the voters who elected me countywide twice to do the job. The Quo Warranto proceeding is a legal tool assigned to the County Attorney by the legislators; it is a duty of this office. The Fort Bend County Attorney’s Office has always and will remain focused on the practice of law and not attacking people. We resolve cases in court, not in front of cameras.”
