September 13, 2024: It's Friday the 13th for the Bastrop City Council Members led by John Kirkland who gathered 850 of the 1600 signatures submitted to recall Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson. The recall was based on the lie that the Mayor was under investigation for his supposed involvment in "misuse of public funds with his girlfriend." Susan Smith, the former CEO of Visit Bastrop, a nonprofit organization that receives city of Bastrop HOT (hotel taxes) funds was NO BILLED by the Bastrop District Attorney's office on September 10.
In a letter from the District Attorney's Office to Bill Aleshire, Lyle Nelson's attorney, the DA indicates Nelson was not even the subject of an investigation. Kirkland's recallers and fellow Council Members Kevin Plunkett and Cynthia Meyer, repeatedly refused to wait for an investigation to conclude. This caused the expenditure of at least $137,080 in city tax dollars for audits, investigations and attorney fees.
See the DA's letter here.
Yesterday, September 12, Bill Aleshire sent a letter to Irma Parker, Interim City Secretary -- the entire text of which is below. The letter lays out what records have yet to be released by Parker. Parker was handpicked by her longtime friend, City Manager Sylvia Carrillo, to serve as Interim Secretary just as the recall petitions were filed last month. Parker has yet to issue a determination on the certification of the recall petition. Parker promised at the last City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, to issue her determination today, Friday, September 13th.
The court of public opinion is now in session! Read Aleshire's letter below.
Dear City of Bastrop Public Information Officer:
This is a public information request by Lyle Nelson, my client. On August 6, 2024 Mr. Nelson requested:
“Please promptly supply a copy of any correspondence (electronic or paper) regarding the forensic audit of Visit Bastrop (dated December 8, 2023) by Haynie & Company in the possession of the Bastrop City Manager, Bastrop City Attorney, Bastrop City Council Member or other Bastrop staff or agent to or from any Visit Bastrop Board Member, staff, or attorney since December 8, 2023.”
Mr. Nelson hereby renews that public information and, without limiting that request, also requests that the City provide what it labeled “Exhibit D” and “Exhibit E” attached to the City’s request for ruling to the Texas Attorney General, dated August 27, 2024 (OAG Tracking ID: OR24033856; Texas.gov Request ID: 66238632). Mayor Nelson hereby withdraws his public information request dated August 6, 2024 and suggests the City notify the Attorney General that there is no need for the AG to issue a ruling on that request.
In the ORR request, the City said: “Exhibit D contains internal records or notations of a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that are maintained for internal use in a matter relating to law enforcement or prosecution. The investigation pertaining to the request is still pending (see Exhibit E).” There has been a change of circumstances, as you can see from the attached correspondence I had with the Bastrop District Attorney’s office.
Former Visit Bastrop CEO Susan Smith was “no-billed” by the grand jury this week and the DA affirmed that no case was even brought against Lyle Nelson. The DA’s office specifically said they now have no basis on which the so-called “law enforcement exception”, TPIA Section 552.108, would apply to the requested information.
With this conclusion—that there never was any criminal conduct by Mayor Nelson or Susan Smith—the House of Cards built for the recall of Mayor Nelson will collapse. First, incomplete and misleading information in the 2023 Haynie Report (suggesting that embezzlement of funds had occurred) was a card on which the City Council-directed investigation by outside counsel, Sarah Glaser, was stacked. The specific contours of that investigation were defined by the Bastrop City Manager, as directed by the City Council, and consisted for 4 parts. The first three parts were about apparent financial irregularities in spending public funds by Visit Bastrop. Mayor Nelson fully cooperated and turned over all his records and answered all questions regarding the investigation into use of public funds, and the investigation report so noted. The Investigation issues and conclusions on those 3 points said:
“Assess any knowledge the Mayor held regarding misuse of public funds.” The report said, “The Mayor denied any knowledge of misuse of public funds, and my investigation to date uncovered no evidence otherwise.”
Did the Mayor share confidential or legally privileged information with the CEO? The report said: “There is no evidence to date that Mayor Nelson shared any other confidential or legally privileged information with Smith.”
“Did the Mayor participate in discussions regarding Visit Bastrop where he had a non-disclosed conflict of interest?” The report said: “Therefore, there is no discussion in which the Mayor participated in where he had Conflicting Interest, as that term is defined in the Code of Ethics.”
But the 4th part of the Investigation asked: “Has the Mayor been involved in a romantic relationship with the leader of Visit Bastrop, and did he attempt to lie or conceal this relationship from the public or City Council during the election or after being sworn in?”
This was a highly improper inquiry by a governmental body to begin with. The City of Bastrop had no business spending public funds on such an investigation violating the privacy rights of Mayor Nelson and Ms. Smith. Mayor Nelson refused to waive his right of privacy by turning over his private texts. That totally justified refusal, was warped into the next floor in the House of Cards, an Ethics Complaint made by the City Council itself to the Ethics Commission the City Council appoints. The complaint alleged that Mayor Nelson was guilty of “interference” in the investigation of the use of funds by Visit Bastrop. Blacks Law Dictionary 971 (11th ed. 2019) defines “interference” as “The act or process of obstructing normal operations or intervening or meddling in the affairs of others.” No evidence ever existed that Mayor Nelson engaged in any such behavior about any legitimate and legal part of the Glaser Investigation. And tellingly, no one conducting the criminal investigation into the use of the Visit Bastrop funds ever needed or subpoenaed those private text messages in order to determine if public funds were embezzled or misused. But the next floor of the House of Cards consisted of a reprimand by the City Council-appointed Ethics Commission. Then the same Council Members leading the charge for the Glaser Investigation, then the Ethics Complaint, then added the last floor of the House of Cards by circulating a Recall Petition accusing Mayor Nelson of “interfering in an investigation into misuse of public funds by his girlfriend.”
It is time for transparency, particularly with the requested records and correspondence between the City Manager and Visit Bastrop, to show the House of Cards was built on false assumptions despite costing taxpayers over $137,080 for the audit, investigation, and attorney fees.
Bill Aleshire
AleshireLAW PC
LIV Note: If you want to see Bastrop's Recaller's House of Cards collapse, get ready for the next innings because it's game on for open government. Comments welcome.
Yeah, it's the mayor's attorney speaking from a legal standpoint. One-sided?? Yeah, the side of the law. Case closed.
The DA has spoken!
Did you read the DA's letter? It's linked in the third paragraph.
No one has been charged with any crime whatsoever. And, Lyle Nelson was never deemed the subject of an investigation. Yet, this was one of two allegations by the recallers.
The other allegation by recallers was the Nelson lied about his affair. He has admitted that, apologized and is dealing with this as a personal matter.
Now it's time for the recallers to end this waste of taxdollars and time. Will they find it in their hearts to do the right thing? Only they can answer that question.
Enough!
VERY ONE-SIDED. This is the mayor's attorney speaking. No idea whether or not his statements of fact are accurate.