Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson is asking the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals to file a recall petition against him, claiming the ballot initiative violates a provision in the city’s charter, according to a subpoena filed on September 23. Nelson is asking the court to order Bastrop Interim City Clerk Irma Parker, who accepted the petition as valid, to reverse her decision.
The city clerk must verify the petition before the Bastrop City Council can order a recall election for the earliest date allowed by law. The City Council has until Feb. 14, 2025, to order a recall election on May 3, 2025, the court said. Parker told the council on September 17 that the petition was sufficient. The municipality has not yet taken any action on this.
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Bill Aleshire, one of Nelson’s attorneys, told the American-Statesman in an interview this week that the petition violates the city charter because it does not include signatures from voters stating that the reason for which the recall petition is asking is true is. . The petition must contain a signature on each page of only one of the voters who not only signed the page but also signed an affidavit attesting to the truth for the recall, he said.
The attorney representing the city, George Hyde, did not respond to a Statesman request for comment. The city clerk decided the city charter provision was unenforceable because it placed additional requirements for a recall petition beyond those required by the Texas Election Code, according to the document Aleshire filed.
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“The point the city clerk missed is that the recall request must meet both the requirements of the City Charter for the content of the request and the requirements of the Election Code for determining which signatures are valid,” the court document said.
The recall petition states that the Bastrop Ethics Commission “unanimously determined that Mayor Lyle Nelson violated the Bastrop Ethics Ordinance for abuse of position and interference and has been formally reprimanded for interfering with an investigation into the misuse of public funds by his girlfriend.”
“The demonstrated lies and other interference have violated public trust,” it said.
The Ethics Commission reprimanded Nelson in April for interfering with an administrative investigation into Susan Smith for misuse of public funds while she was CEO of Visit Bastrop., a destination marketing organization with which the city contracts. Smith was Nelson’s girlfriend. According to a City Council complaint, Nelson refused to turn over eight months of emails between the two of them.
However, Aleshire claims Nelson did not interfere with the investigation because a Bastrop Grand Jury did not indict Smith in the criminal investigation on September 10.
“There was no embezzlement,” Aleshire said. The Ethics Commission rushed to make a decision before the criminal investigation was completed, he said. He also said Nelson turned over emails between him and Smith regarding city funds.
Mayor Pro-Tem John Kirkland said in an email this week that he started the recall petition after three residents contacted him to start the process. More than a dozen people helped with the petition, including seven current and former city council members and members of city boards and commissions.
“More than three times as many people who voted for Mayor Nelson signed the recall petition demanding his removal,” Kirkland said in the email.
Nelson initially denied being involved with Smith until 232 pages of intimate text messages between them were discovered on her work iPad, according to an ethics complaint. Nelson subsequently admitted to the council that he and Smith had a sexual relationship and apologized to the council for lying to them, the complaint said.
“Lyle is remorseful, has apologized and has asked for forgiveness from the community and his wife,” Aleshire said. He said he plans to ask the Ethics Commission to reverse its recommendation to the City Council for Nelson to be reprimanded.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Is a recall petition against Bastrop mayor legal? Here’s what we know.
