Behind-the-scenes political maneuvering and threats of retaliation may have influenced the leadership and future of a public board designed to preserve local history, Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said.
The Tarrant County Historical Commission, made up of 19 volunteers from across the county, elected its five-person leadership committee during its Nov. 19 meeting. The board is made up of appointees by the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, the county’s elected governing body.
Simmons, who represents the southwestern and southeastern parts of Tarrant County on the court, and some members of the historical commission allege that County Judge Tim O’Hare attempted to sway the election’s outcome in the weeks preceding the vote.
Simmons said O’Hare, who leads the commissioners court, verbally pressured historical commission members to decline nominations to lead the body and sought to push conservative-leaning members into board leadership.
The Wednesday election ultimately resulted in a Republican chairman who will lead the nonpartisan commission starting in 2026.
“When elected officials try to influence or control who leads the commission, especially through that behind-the-scenes stuff … it raises serious concerns about political interference in historical truth telling,” Simmons told the Fort Worth Report.
The historical commission is a volunteer board that oversees “programs for the preservation of the historical heritage of the county,” according to the county’s website. Part of the commission’s role is to review applications for state historical markers before they’re sent to the Texas Historical Commission for final approval.
O’Hare did not confirm or deny Simmons’ allegation that he pressured appointees and did not answer questions about the potential impact partisan influence could have on the historical commission.
“In a Republican county, with a Republican commissioners court and every countywide office held by a Republican, Democrats are upset that a Republican is the new chair of the historical commission,” O’Hare said in a written statement. “Nothing new under the sun.”
The county’s board came under scrutiny earlier this year when O’Hare alleged members violated the application and approval process for a historical marker the city of Fort Worth requested to recognize local LGBTQ history. Those involved with the application denied his claim and said the standard process was followed.
But at O’Hare’s request, the state commission rescinded its approval of the marker application, effectively shutting down the project. The marker would have been located at the site of the Rainbow Lounge, a former gay bar raided by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Fort Worth police officers in 2009 — an incident that led to a reckoning over LGBTQ rights in Fort Worth.
At the time, elected officials, former city and county staff and LGBTQ community leaders said O’Hare acted outside of his purview as county judge, setting a dangerous precedent for the politicization of local history and its preservation.
In July, county commissioners appointed five new members, four Republicans and one Democrat, to the historical board. Republican Commissioner Matt Krause said at the time that the appointments were intended to fill vacancies on the commission and were not picked in response to the controversy surrounding the LGBTQ marker.
Bill Perdue, a Republican elected Wednesday to serve as the historical board’s chair, said people on both sides of the political aisle have sought to politicize the commission. He declined to name anyone.
“It is an apolitical organization,” Perdue said of the historical commission. He is a 10-year member of the board who previously served as chair and vice chair. “I don’t care what other people may say, and I don’t want it to ever become a political organization.”
Before the historical commission’s election, a nominating committee proposed five members to serve as the commission’s chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer and parliamentarian. Those nominations were sent to all 19 commission members three weeks in advance of the vote.
During Wednesday’s meeting, commission members voted 9-8 against the committee’s nominees.
Clarissa Epps, who was the committee’s pick for chair, said she was surprised her colleagues rejected her nomination. She declined to share her political affiliation but said she hopes politics were not a deciding factor.
“The historical commission is nonpartisan. We’re volunteers. We’re serving as the county arm for the Texas Historical Commission. We’re just promoting historic preservation,” Epps said. “Yeah, it’s a little surprising to me that any politics would be involved.”
She said she’s confident in Perdue’s ability to lead the commission, and she’s hopeful that “not much will change.”
Billy Wilson, was initially nominated to serve as vice chair. Simmons alleges that O’Hare instructed Perdue to pressure colleagues to vote against Wilson’s election.
Perdue said institutional knowledge like his own about how the commission runs is essential to lead. He denied seeking to influence the election for partisan reasons but said he advised Wilson, who is Black, not to accept the nomination to shield him from potential backlash and derogatory comments as chair.
“The problem we’ve got is that there still is racism in this city … and Billy is too valuable a member of this commission,” said Perdue, who is white.
Wilson said Perdue did not mention race-related concerns to him, only that Simmons may face backlash if Wilson were appointed as chair.
Simmons and O’Hare often clash publicly with each other during commissioners court meetings.
Simmons told the Report that O’Hare threatened to slash the number of appointees on the historical commission from 19 to five if he didn’t get his way with the nominations. Such a reduction would require a vote of the Republican-majority commissioners court.
Wilson, who described himself as an Independent who leans Democrat, said he’s not disappointed that he wasn’t elected as vice chair, noting that commission leadership duties are to process paperwork and follow established guidelines without much room for subjectivity.
Still, he worries that partisan influence and interference from elected officials could impact the public’s interest in serving on the commission.
“I believe that his micromanagement and his aggressive manner in which he treats staff have actually caused the county to lose really good people,” Wilson said of O’Hare.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Simmons said “it is what it is,” and she can’t change the commission’s leadership.
“I have no intention of trying to reverse it, but I want to call it out,” Simmons said. “People need to know these things are happening.”
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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