A judge has dismissed both efforts to remove Tarrant County District Clerk Thomas "Tom" Wilder from office.
Denton County District Judge Jim Johnson last week dismissed two petitions for Wilder’s removal that were filed earlier this summer by three men who alleged Wilder interfered in their family court cases by mishandling or not accepting certain document filings.
Wilder has denied these claims and told KERA News in an email the men are "an organized group trying to intimidate the judicial process and the people who work in it. He called them "disgruntled court litigants who are refusing to pay child support and/or legislatively mandated fees."
The first petition was filed in June by Jose Portalatin and Lewis Brooks McKenzie. Portalatin alleged Wilder wrongly blocked his submission of documents that included photos to his family court case. McKenzie, who's also in his own years-long family court case, joined the removal petition to support Portalatin.
The third man, Conghua "Arnold" Yan, filed his removal petition on Aug. 4, alleging Wilder mishandled and lost his court documents while transferring them to another court. Wilder denies documents were ever lost in Yan's case, and told KERA News he has them printed out in his office. Yan said he believes the files need to be in the electronic filing system.
In both cases Judge Johnson concluded the petitioners failed to "meet the requirements necessary to warrant the issuance of citation" under Chapter 87 of the Texas Local Government Code, which provides a process for residents to try and remove a public official for incompetency or official misconduct. The decision cited previous Texas Supreme Court case law stating Chapter 87 should not be used to punish public officials but rather to protect the public from "those who have been faithless and corrupt."
The petitions were assigned to Johnson after both Tarrant County judges originally on the cases voluntarily recused themselves — court records don't specify why they decided to do so.
Yan has already filed an appeal with the Texas Second Court of Appeals. That court came to the opinion "that a serious question concerning the relief requested requires further consideration." Wilder has until Sept. 19 to make a reply to the court.
Yan told KERA News he's arguing the judge isn't allowed to dismiss the case because the Texas Constitution and Chapter 87 say officials may only be removed after a jury trial.
"The constitution is very clear — the removal [of a] local officer can only be decided by jury," Yan said. "The judge has no authority."
Tarrant County agreed in August to hire an attorney to represent Wilder with a cap of $30,000 on legal fees.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Fall news intern. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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