Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson is asking the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals to throw out a recall petition against him, alleging that the ballot initiative violates a provision in the city’s charter, according to a writ of mandamus filed Sept. 23. Nelson is asking the court to order Bastrop Interim City Secretary Irma Parker, who has accepted the petition as valid, to reverse her decision.
The city secretary is required to verify the petition before the Bastrop City Council can order a recall election for the earliest date allowed by law. The council has until Feb. 14, 2025, to order a recall election on May 3, 2025, the court filing said. Parker told the City Council on Sept. 17 that the petition was sufficient. The City Council has not yet taken action on it.
More: Recall petition against Bastrop mayor deemed sufficient for May ballot
Bill Aleshire, one of Nelson’s defense attorneys, told the American-Statesman in an interview this week, that the petition violates the city charter because it doesn’t include signatures from voters certifying that the reason for which the recall petition is being sought is true. The petition must include a signature on each page from just 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 lawyer representing the city, George Hyde, did not respond to a Statesman request for comment. The city secretary decided that the city charter provision was unenforceable because it put 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 missed by the City Secretary is that the recall petition must comply both with the City Charter requirements for the content of the petition and the Election Code requirements to determine which signatures are valid,” the court document said.
The recall petition states that the Bastrop Ethics Commission “has unanimously determined that Mayor Lyle Nelson has violated Bastrop’s Ethics Ordinance for Abuse of Position, Interference and been formally reprimanded for interfering in an investigation into misuse of public funds by his girlfriend.”
“The demonstrated lying and other interference have violated the public trust,” it states.
The Ethics Commission reprimanded Nelson in April for interfering with an administrative investigation into Susan Smith for misuse of public funds while she was the chief executive officer for Visit Bastrop, a destination marketing organization with which the city contracts work. Smith was Nelson’s girlfriend. Nelson refused to turn over eight months of emails between the two of them, according to a complaint from the City Council.
Aleshire, however, alleges that Nelson didn’t interfere with the probe because a Bastrop Grand Jury no-billed Smith on Sept. 10 in the criminal investigation.
“There was no embezzlement,” Aleshire said. The Ethics Commission rushed to make a decision before the criminal investigation was complete, he said. He also said Nelson did turn 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 reached out to 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 the number of people who voted for Mayor Nelson signed the recall petition demanding his removal,” said Kirkland in the email.
Nelson initially denied that he had been involved with Smith until 232 pages of intimate text messages between them were discovered on her work iPad, according to an ethics complaint. Nelson then admitted to the City Council that he and Smith had a sexual relationship and apologized to the council for lying to them, the complaint said.
“Lyle is sorry, has apologized and has sought 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 a reprimand of Nelson.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Is recall petition against Bastrop mayor legal? Here’s what we know.
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