Funny how the people who lecture you about “law and order” always seem to mean their order, enforced on you, by guys with badges. Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare ran a seven-hour commissioners court meeting on February 10 that ended with three citizens dragged out by sheriff’s deputies, a 72-year-old Navy veteran banned from the building for a year, and a former state lawmaker hauled out by his hands and feet. And the man behind the gavel says he did everything right.
Ask yourself what kind of public servant needs armed deputies to silence a room full of his own constituents. O’Hare had Doyle Fine, a 72-year-old retired U.S. Navy veteran, removed after Fine yelled out during the meeting. Fine’s offense? He shouted “Tell that to Renee Good” after O’Hare praised a partnership between the county sheriff and ICE. Good is one of several American citizens killed by ICE agents in recent months. Fine missed the deadline to register to speak, so he did what a man who swore an oath to the Constitution does. He spoke anyway. “I’m just a pissed-off old Navy vet,” Fine told the Fort Worth Report. For that, he got a criminal trespass warning and a one-year ban from the people’s building.
Then O’Hare called a recess. And during that recess, when no official business was happening, EJ Carrion called the judge “small” and cracked “O’Hare we go again.” O’Hare had him removed too. Alexander Montalvo, a 43-year-old community activist, got the same treatment. Both were speaking during breaks. The meeting was paused. There was nothing to disrupt.
Here’s where it gets rich. Bill Aleshire, the Austin attorney who helped write the Texas Open Meetings Act, says O’Hare has no legal authority to remove anyone during a recess. “That’s a violation of free speech rights and rights to attend a public meeting,” Aleshire told the Fort Worth Report. “That was not during a meeting.” Nina Oishi, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, called the criminal trespass warnings “very unusual” and “extremely severe.” The state’s own handbook says government bodies “may not prohibit public criticism of the governmental body.”
But O’Hare doesn’t care what the handbook says. He told the room, “I’m the presiding officer of this courtroom, whether we’re in session or not.” Whether we’re in session or not. Read that twice. The man claims authority over your mouth even when the meeting is on break. Commissioner Alisa Simmons asked the county attorney whether the removal was consistent with the court’s rules. O’Hare instructed the attorney not to give “legal advice” during the meeting and overruled her. The GOP commissioners backed him. So the judge who likely broke the law also got to block the lawyer from saying so out loud. Nice system if you can rig it.
The Dallas Morning News reported that former state lawmaker Lon Burnam, 73, was also removed. Deputies carried him out by his hands and feet. His apparent crime was picking up the microphone while speaking. A 73-year-old man, lifted like a piece of furniture, for touching a mic.
O’Hare refused to return calls from the Fort Worth Report. His chief of staff said he wouldn’t answer his personal cell. His spokesperson didn’t return messages. Funny how the tough guy who clears rooms full of grandpas goes quiet when a reporter calls.
A separate claim circulating online says an autistic speaker who had submitted an ADA accommodation request a month in advance was also removed from a Tarrant County meeting. I haven’t seen that corroborated by the Fort Worth Report or the Dallas Morning News. But given what O’Hare did to the people we can verify, would you put it past him?
The meeting’s agenda included a grant to expand the sheriff’s partnership with ICE and a proposal to give residents less time to speak. So the judge who wants to silence you also wanted to give you fewer minutes to talk before he silences you. Ask yourself who benefits when the public can’t speak, can’t attend, and can’t come back for a year.
O’Hare said he made no mistakes. A 72-year-old veteran banned from his own government building. A 73-year-old former lawmaker carried out like a rug. Free speech experts saying he broke the law. No mistakes.
Must be nice to be the one holding the gavel and the get-out-of-accountability card.