Court grants temporary restraining order against GOP chair
An Ex Parte Temporary Restraining Order prohibiting Bandera County Republican Party Chair Lynn Haueter from using the party’s website, email and social media expires on May 2, at which time a hearing will be held to determine the next steps.
The order was granted April 18 by Bandera County’s 198th Judicial District Court and filed by the Bandera County Clerk on April 20.
Judge Dennis Powell, who served 20 years as the 163rd District Court Judge in Orange County before retiring in 2020, sat on the case as an assignment after Judge Rex Emerson of the 198th Judicial District Court recused himself from the case on April 12, citing a conflict and requesting Stephen B Ables, Presiding Judge of the Sixth Administrative Judicial Region of Texas to assign a judge to hear the case. The next day, Ables chose Powell to preside over the case.
The restraining order request was submitted by the Bandera County Executive Committee, who cited Articles of Censure delivered to Haueter last March instructing her to relinquish administrative controls and login/ password information to online platforms.
The Executive Committee argues they have suffered injury because Haueter “wrongfully exercised dominion and control over the property and has refused to surrender it.”
In an affidavit entered as part of Haueter’s plea from Toni Anne Dashiell, National Committeewoman for the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) on the Republican National Committee, Dashiell said she “was not aware of any conduct by Chair Haueter at all which would fall within the bounds of sanctionable conduct as specified in RPT rules.”
Previous statements from RPT Vice-Chair Cat Parks and Organizational Director Jen Hall say the Executive Committee’s Articles of Censure are unenforceable, meaning Haueter remains chair until the expiration of her term next month.
Those two statements are referenced in the plea submitted for Haueter by her lawyer, Eric Opelia, who is is one of only five board certified attorneys in Legislative and Campaign Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, according to a release last month from Governor Greg Abbott’s office in which Opelia was named to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.
Executive Committee Member and Party Secretary Conrad Striegl, who ran unopposed in the March primary and will replace Haueter in June, did not respond to a request for comment ahead of the May 2 hearing.
Striegl previously told the Bulletin in a statement first published March 16 he knew the censure “had no teeth” and was done on principle.
Striegl and the Executive Committee at large are represented by Tomas Ramirez III, who is currently suspended from his position as Justice of the Peace for Medina County Precinct 4 following his second arrest, charge and indictment for election fraud stemming from 2018’s election for Medina County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace, which Ramirez won 724-651.
Ramirez was first arrested in Bandera County on February 11, 2021, following a February 9 indictment by a Bandera County Grand Jury. He was suspended without pay by the State Commission of Judicial Conduct following that indictment.
On December 21, 2021, Ramirez’s case was dismissed in Bandera County, and Ramirez was reinstated as Justice of the Peace on Christmas Eve.
One day before that dismissal, the same charges were filed in Medina County. A ruling on a February 14 hearing was postponed so attorney’s for the state and Ramirez could gather more information.
Medina County’s website currently lists Celeste Brown as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4. Brown was also chosen to hold Ramirez’s office following suspension.
Ramirez won the Republican Nomination again with 52.3 percent of the vote in March 1’s primary. Pending the results of his case, he can take the position.
Striegl declined to comment on behalf of the Executive Committee regarding Ramirez’s voter fraud indictments and whether they were aware of them.
Ramirez also declined to comment.
Lynn Haueter released the following statement to the Bulletin:
“I am saddened by the latest escapade by Mr. Striegl and his fellow disgruntled precinct chairs. Their actions continue to interfere with and undermine the Bandera County Republican Party’s responsibilities with regard to our primary elections, finances, efforts to communicate with our constituents and grow the Party in Bandera County.
“Not satisfied with the lack of public support for their efforts, they now have hired an attorney who is under criminal indictment for election fraud in Medina County to file a frivolous lawsuit attempt to gain control of the Party’s website by misrepresenting to a court not only their identity but also the facts and law regarding their ‘censure.’
“One of my main priorities as chair has been to form a strong election integrity committee (which we now have) but now we have some members of our county executive committee ‘hiring’ someone who has been indicted on election integrity charges. I encourage all Bandera County Republicans to read our motion to dismiss Striegl’s lawsuit and sanction him, others involved, and their attorney for their conduct.“
Editor’s Note: Next week’s Bulletin will have gone to press by the time May 2’s hearing has commenced. Visit www.banderabulletin.com for the most up-to-date information