Judge in power broker’s ethics case removed before issuing final order

AUSTIN — The fight between the Texas Ethics Commission and one of the state’s most influential conservative power brokers appears set for another round of legal sparring thanks to social media site Twitter.

A lawyer hired by the commission says an appeal lodged by Michael Quinn Sullivan in a high-profile lobbying case still is an open matter in court after the judge who sided with the Empower Texans president was removed from the case before issuing a final order.

“The case is still pending in Denton County, and a new judge will be assigned,” said Eric Nichols, an outside lawyer representing the commission.

It’s the latest twist in a grudge match that has played out publicly for the past three years between the commission and Sullivan over whether he broke state law by trying to influence legislation without registering as a lobbyist.

The commission, in a scathing order that leveled a $10,000 fine, ruled last year that Sullivan directly communicated with lawmakers in the last quarter of 2010 and during the 2011 session and failed to register with the state.

Sullivan appealed the ruling in Denton County, and last month, 158th District Court Judge Steven Burgess declared at a hearing that he was granting a motion to dismiss the case, effectively tossing the commission’s ruling that Sullivan was an unregistered lobbyist.

He said a state law that protects free speech and the right to assemble applied to Sullivan. But Burgess never signed a dismissal order and instead let the two sides debate for nearly a half-hour over attorney fees.

Sullivan and his lawyers left the courthouse declaring victory, while attorneys for the commission said they likely planned to appeal.

But the case now will need a new hearing in front of a new judge on Sullivan’s motion to dismiss, according to commission lawyers, after Judge Jeff Walker, a senior district judge from Tarrant County who was appointed to hear the recusal motion, signed an order Wednesday to have Burgess removed.

The commission’s rationale for the recusal: Burgess’ objectivity came into question after it was revealed shortly after the February hearing that he followed Sullivan on Twitter, one of only 34 accounts the judge actively tracked on the social media platform.

The commission argued in court filings that the Twitter relationship “caused and will cause Judge Burgess’ impartiality in this case to be reasonably questioned” because he was able to receive tweets from Sullivan regarding the case.

The judge’s Twitter account was deleted within 12 hours of the hearing, after Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy first made the online relationship public via a tweet of his own (image below, courtesy of Kennedy).

“All of that was considered by Judge Walker, who made the decision that the relationship gave rise to a reasonable question about Judge Burgess’ impartiality to hear the case,” Nichols said.

Burgess’ office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Joe Nixon, a lawyer for Sullivan, said he believed that Burgess’ verbal decision from the bench to dismiss the case still had merit, despite not having a signed final order.

“I’m not here to teach Eric Nichols or the ethics commission law. I don’t share their view,” Nixon said in a telephone interview.

But he later added: “I’ll have to look into that.”

Natalia Ashley, the commission’s executive director, said: “We are pleased with the judge’s decision.”

At the February hearing, Burgess signed an order denying the commission’s request to transfer the case to Travis County. Nichols said that ruling still stands and that the “venue is still a matter of great concern.”

“The commission is evaluating its options,” he said on the venue issue.

drauf@express-news.net