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Tag: KP George

  • Fort Bend DA Says KP George’s Legal Filings Are “Desperate” – Houston Press

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    Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton acknowledged last week that embattled Judge KP George is making every possible attempt to get out of being prosecuted for money laundering and involvement in a social media hoax, but said George’s allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are meritless. 

    George, who has served as Fort Bend County judge since 2019, is scheduled for a jury trial on a misdemeanor charge of identity misrepresentation — involving allegations that he worked with a staff member to fake racist attacks against his own campaign on social media — on January 6, with a pre-trial conference hearing set for December 16. 

    Middleton is also planning to prosecute George on felony money laundering charges in February. A pretrial hearing on that case, which alleges that George used campaign funds to pay his property taxes and put a down payment on a house, is scheduled for December 15 in the 458th District Court. 

    George, a new Republican, and Middleton, a Democrat, are both up for re-election in 2026. George has maintained that Middleton is pursuing a political vendetta against him and committed prosecutorial misconduct by withholding evidence, including recorded conversations and text messages about the cases against George. 

    Middleton’s response to George’s accusations states that several text messages sent to the media by George’s attorneys were cherry-picked from hundreds of thousands of communications and are unrelated to Middleton’s prosecutorial or governmental duties and responsibilities. 

    George’s attorney Jared Woodfill published some of the text messages in a first round of legal filings on October 31 and added more fuel to the fire in another set of documents filed last week. Woodfill is asking that the cases against George be dismissed, or at the very least that Middleton and his office be disqualified from involvement in the case. 

    The attorney is also requesting the immediate cessation of encrypted, auto-deleting communication apps by the DA’s office and production of remaining electronic communications that haven’t yet been disclosed. 

    Woodfill told the Houston Press that he obtained secret audio recordings and text messages from George’s former chief of staff Taral Patel, who was charged in the social media hoax and sentenced to probation. Those transcripts and text messages were not included in the discovery provided by the DA’s office, Woodfill said, alleging that Middleton withheld such evidence because he knew about the social media hoax while it was going on. 

    “What is extremely troubling is that the last few minutes of a three-hour proffer interview with Patel by the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office has been wiped clean,” George’s legal filing states. “This is highly suspicious, as the discussion just prior to erasure centered around which Fort Bend County public figures — and of course Middleton is one of those public figures — knew about Patel’s activities.”

    In Middleton’s response, he points out that a 130-second portion of the videotaped interview was indeed corrupted but his office provided a backup video that captured the entire meeting with Patel. Woodfill claims the backup video is of poor quality and even a transcriber wasn’t able to make out what was said. 

    The DA’s office responded to George’s original legal documents by pointing out “the inaccuracies and lack of evidence to support such wild accusations.” 

    Wesley Wittig, second assistant DA and a spokesman for the office, said George continues to make “the same tired argument,” but Middleton would file an official response to the latest accusations.

    “This is yet another desperate attempt, in a long line of attempts, to smear anyone (especially the Fort Bend County District Attorney) through allegations that are baseless and inaccurate,” Wittig said in an email to the Press. “There is no retaliation, no misconduct, and no evidence was destroyed or withheld.”

    “We look forward to challenging these assertions in the courtroom and focusing our energy on the upcoming trials of KP George for the criminal conduct he is charged with,” Wittig added. 

    A 15-page legal filing from the DA’s office issued in early November states that “George has shown no basis for disqualification of the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office on the merits of his motion. He does not cite a statutory reason for disqualification, nor does he allege a non-statutory circumstance the Court of Criminal Appeals has recognized as due process violation.”

    “Instead, he seeks to disqualify the elected District Attorney Brian Middleton and his entire office on the basis that at some point, prior to the filing of this case, DA Middleton used messaging application with disappearing-messages feature; that certain messages appear to demonstrate personal animus against him; and that if DA Middleton failed to preserve the messages it could constitute other law violations. This theory does not establish conflict of interest, much less one that meets the due process violation standard,” the motion continues. 

    The text messages and phone call transcripts produced by George’s legal team aren’t particularly flattering to Middleton. They’re littered with profanity and suggestions that the DA’s office wants to “destroy” political opponents. However, those close to the matter have pointed out that the documents came from Patel, who was sentenced for identity misrepresentation, and brought forth by the legal team of George, who is accused of faking social media accounts and posts. 

    Woodfill told the Press that he had not deposed Patel because that’s not a standard practice in a criminal case, but he did ask for an evidentiary hearing, at which time a judge would likely ask the question of whether the text messages and recorded conversations were AI-generated or otherwise “faked.” 

    Middleton’s office has opposed an evidentiary hearing, claiming it’s not needed since the accusations are without merit. 

    Woodfill said last week the text messages obtained from Patel’s phone outline numerous conversations with Middleton that prove the DA is willing to take down those who oppose him. 

    “It appears based on that evidence that we put in our motion that if you cross [Middleton] or make him mad, he will fight you and go after you and use our taxpayer dollars to target you,” Woodfill said. “The recordings show that he was clearly complicit in the fake Facebook campaign. Why wouldn’t he disqualify himself and let another judge hear it? He needs to resign.” 

    The felony case against George, 61, carries a potential sentence of two to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Woodfill maintains that George gave himself a campaign loan, a common practice when running for office, and paid it back but the paperwork was not filed properly. As for the social media hoax, George’s lawyers say there’s no evidence that the judge was involved. 

    If anyone wants to wade through the back and forth paperwork that’s been filed in this case, here it is for your reading pleasure:

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Breaking: KP George Alleges Prosecutorial Misconduct by DA’s Office – Houston Press

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    Attorneys for embattled Fort Bend County Judge KP George filed motions Friday morning to dismiss the felony and misdemeanor cases against him, or at least remove District Attorney Brian Middleton from trying the cases, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. 

    George, 61, is charged with money laundering between $30,000 and $150,000, a third-degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of two to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. 

    The judge is also accused of a misdemeanor charge of identity misrepresentation, with prosecutors alleging he worked with a staff member to fake racist attacks against his own campaign on social media in an effort to gain favor with the public. 

    George’s attorney Jared Woodfill filed four motions on Friday, seeking to disqualify Middleton as the prosecutor in both cases and to dismiss both cases due to what they allege is prosecutorial misconduct.

    The filings allege that Middleton and his colleagues used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss George and the charges against him. And George’s attorneys included screenshots of those discussions in their legal filings. 

    One exchange, identified in court documents as a Signal message between Middleton and former George staffer Taral Patel, provides — according to Woodfill — “insight to Middleton’s hatred and ill will toward Defendant KP George.”

    The Signal message states: “Super confidential: got a complaint against FLATHOUSE. If true, pretty bad. Reading the complaint, FLATHOUSE hates KP. He spread the rumor about alleged affair…I am fuming mad…I told KP he was a rat. This shit is bad.”

    Woodfill said Friday the Signal messages, which disappear immediately if not captured by screenshot, were obtained from Patel’s phone through discovery.

    Woodfill goes on to say in the court documents that George has become aware that Middleton and his office “have used, and continue to use, messaging platforms such as Signal, and perhaps WhatsApp, to communicate about matters pertinent to this criminal prosecution.”

    “By conscious spoliation and deliberate destruction of material evidence, the Fort Bend County District Attorney and his office did not, and now cannot, comply with its constitutional, statutory, ethical and moral duties to promptly and fully disclose information about this matter to Defendant KP George and/or his undersigned attorney. Additionally, KP George has obtained evidence proving that this prosecution was brought in retaliation for KP George being critical of Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton.”

    A spokesperson for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office initially said, “This is news to me,” when asked if Middleton wanted to respond. A few hours later, the DA’s office issued the following statement:

    “Attorneys for KP George notified the media that they filed motions today claiming that his prosecution for the felony charges of money laundering should be dismissed and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office disqualified due to prosecutorial misconduct.

    This is yet another desperate attempt, in a long line of attempts, to smear anyone (especially the Fort Bend County District Attorney) using evidence and information provided by the State as part of discovery, through allegations that are baseless and entirely unrelated to the felony money laundering charges.

    We recognize the public’s interest in this proceeding, but the rules of legal ethics require both prosecutors and defense attorneys not to make public statements that could materially affect a court proceeding.

    Because the media is not the appropriate forum to lodge legal objections, the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office wants to reassure our public that we will be filing a thorough written response addressing the claims and false allegations made by KP George. We remain committed to justice and will not be swayed from our cause.”

      This is yet another desperate attempt, in a long line of attempts, to smear anyone
    (especially the Fort Bend County District Attorney) using evidence and information
    provided by the State as part of discovery, through allegations that are baseless and
    entirely unrelated to the felony money laundering charges.

    Fort Bend County District Attorney’s OFFICE

    George switched political parties and became a Republican in June, giving the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court a 3-2 GOP majority. Middleton is a Democrat. The judge is slated to go to trial in January on the misdemeanor identity misrepresentation charges and in February on the felony money laundering case. 

    Woodfill maintains that George gave himself a campaign loan, a common practice when running for office, and paid it back but the paperwork was not filed properly. The indictment alleges that George laundered money between January and April 2019, with “intent to defraud or harm.” George is specifically accused of using campaign funds to pay his property taxes and put a down payment on a house. 

    Woodfill has said that the charges filed by Middleton are a political vendetta to unseat the once-popular county judge. 

    “This is all about dirty politics,” Woodfill said earlier this year.”I think the DA’s office is being weaponized to take out a political opponent.”

    In the case of the misdemeanor social media hoax, George’s former staffer Patel pleaded guilty April 15 to two counts of misrepresentation of identity by a candidate and was sentenced to probation. 

    Woodfill claims in the October 31 court documents that after Middleton indicted Patel, the DA’s office conducted a three-hour interview with Patel that was tape recorded. 

    “Throughout the interview, prosecutors attempted — completely and utterly in vain — to incriminate KP George as a co-conspirator in Patel’s activities,” the motion states. “During that interview, Patel implicates other elected officials in his scheme. Approximately three minutes of the three-hour interview has been destroyed, and this is the portion of the proffer where Patel implicates other elected officials in Fort Bend County.”

    “Middleton was the subject of Patel’s fake post which Patel indicates [was] used to benefit the Democratic ticket.”

    Middleton has only spoken to the Press once about the KP George case, saying in an email in April, “For many good reasons, Texas legal ethics rules limit the kinds of public statements a prosecutor and defense attorney can make about a pending criminal case.”

    “To that end, the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office has been very careful to do its talking in the courtroom and not on the courthouse steps,” Middleton said at the time. “Along these lines, in prosecuting a criminal case, it is not my practice to question the integrity of opposing counsel as a trial tactic. I believe a case should stand or fall on its merits.”

    George is seeking re-election to a third term in 2026. Middleton is also up for re-election next year.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Fort Bend County Approves 2 GOP, 2 Democratic Precincts  – Houston Press

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    Shouting, finger-pointing, and accusations of racism and illegal activity dominated a three-hour Fort Bend County Commissioners Court meeting Monday that culminated in the approval of new precinct boundaries that will split the county 50-50 red and blue. 

    The new map takes effect January 1, ahead of the 2026 elections when County Judge KP George, a new Republican, and two Democratic commissioners, Grady Prestage and Dexter McCoy, will be on the ballot for re-election. 

    Fort Bend County’s current precinct maps have three Democratic precincts and one Republican majority precinct. The redistricting effort was necessary, the court’s GOP members have maintained, to more accurately reflect population and voting patterns in the rapidly growing county. Judge George and Republican Commissioners Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales voted for the new map; Prestage and McCoy voted against it. 

    The Democrats, who had the court majority until George switched parties in June, secured three blue precincts when the maps were last redrawn in 2021. McCoy has maintained that a mid-decade redistricting effort is unnecessary and the maps approved Monday “fracture established communities and prioritize political gain over representation.”

    “In their effort to engineer two white plurality precincts, the GOP majority has disregarded our county’s rich diversity, the very fabric of Fort Bend’s identity,” McCoy said in a statement after the meeting. “The voices of minority residents have been undervalued in this process. I voted against these maps because I believe in honest, transparent policies that reflect the people.”

    “Moving forward, I will continue to fight for accountability and equity for every resident of Fort Bend County,” he added.

    McCoy pointed out that his Precinct 4 was intentionally drawn as a “coalition district,” where two or more separate racial or ethnic minority groups, when combined, form a majority of the population and tend to vote together to elect the minority-preferred candidate. 

    “It’s ridiculous targeting with no basis in fact,” he said. 

    Meyers, who chose to move out of his home to relocate in his newly drawn district in ‘21, said, “Today, Commissioners Court took action to correct what had been a flawed process that resulted in an illegal map that did not meet state and federal statutes. Today’s action/decision also more fairly reflects the political makeup of Fort Bend County voters: roughly 50 percent Republican and 50 percent Democrat.”

    During the meeting, Prestage said he regretted voting for the map in 2021 that caused Meyers to have to move out of his home. 

    “I’ll be forever trying to make amends for that,” Prestage said. “If I could do it over again, I would.” 

    Meyers said he’s responsible for setting the mid-decade redistricting effort in motion because he believes that the 2021 maps were based on race, which is illegal. The two Republicans on the court were not given time to review the map prior to adoption, he said. 

    The boundaries of the 2021 map have never been challenged in court and are supported by renowned redistricting attorney Bob Bass and the ACLU, among other organizations, McCoy said. 

    George said in a statement that the adopted maps “were shaped with full transparency, no added costs, and with the people’s voice at the center.”

    “This process wasn’t about power. It was about people,” he said. “Do not let political rhetoric distort the truth. This court followed the law, included the public, and brought forward a fair and balanced map that respects every voice in our community.”

    Political tension was established early in the meeting when Jacob Lee, chair of the advisory committee that recommended the approved map and a former officer for the Fort Bend County Republican Party, suggested that a transparent process wasn’t followed the last time voter precincts were approved because Democrats used “the COVID scam” to avoid holding public hearings.

    McCoy responded, “COVID happened. There was a pandemic declared.”

    “Whatever that was,” Lee said. “But it was over. Can we get back to the maps?”

    While McCoy was questioning Lee, George told the advisory board chair he could sit down. McCoy then began to question attorney Richard Morris with the firm Rogers, Morris & Grover, hired to advise the committee on redistricting matters. Last month, a majority of the court voted to remove County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson, a Democrat, from participating in redistricting discussions.

    Morris refused to provide his credentials as an expert in redistricting law for the benefit of the public. McCoy moved to go into executive session but the motion failed. 

    “I’m not questioning your legal experience but I think for the record because, between the County Attorney’s Office and whatever else, there have been a lot of questions about your qualifications,” McCoy said. 

    Morris responded, “With all due respect, commissioner, I’m not going to present my resume. I’ve been hired. I’ve already done the work.” 

    Commissioner Meyers and Judge George repeatedly tried to stop McCoy from questioning the attorney. George banged a gavel and called for order, and a debate ensued over whether Robert’s Rules of Order was being followed. McCoy objected and just kept talking. 

    “At the end of the day, y’all are going to pass whatever map y’all want to pass,” he said. “I think we would want to do that with the confidence that we have thoroughly explained to the public exactly why we are doing a mid-decade redistricting.” 

    At one point, Prestage, a Democrat and the longest-serving elected official in Fort Bend County government, turned to George and said, “You started this. You put it on the agenda. You processed this whole process. It could have been avoided. Sit here and deal with it. You can’t just brush over it. You’ve got to deal with the consequences.”  

    Fort Bend’s current precincts, approved in 2021, are 60 percent red, 62 percent blue, 53 percent blue, and 56 percent blue. The new map reflects the following voter preferences: 

    • Precinct 1 (Commissioner Vincent Morales-R) 60 percent Republican
    • Precinct 2 (Commissioner Grady Prestage-D) 68 percent Democrat
    • Precinct 3 (Commissioner Andy Meyers-R) 54 percent Republican
    • Precinct 4 (Commissioner Dexter McCoy-D) 58 percent Democrat
    The redistricting map approved Monday includes two Republican precincts and two Democratic precincts. Credit: Screenshot

    Lee said Monday that the process he spearheaded was transparent and built on principles that called for equal population in each precinct and compact and contiguous districts that are compliant with the Voting Rights Act. His committee held public hearings in each precinct and one town hall meeting. 

    McCoy said at least 40 residents offered feedback on the ‘21 map prior to its adoption. McCoy was not a commissioner at the time but worked for George as his chief of staff. A few residents suggested Monday that McCoy was the one who delivered the maps to the court in 2021. 

    The map adopted Monday, referred to as the “Mike Gibson JL Amendment 1 map, is posted on a Fort Bend County redistricting website. Other proposed maps were dismissed because they would have redistricted elected officials out of their homes. Residents who attended the public hearings were also concerned about ensuring that no single commissioner would oversee all of the county’s developable land, Lee said. 

    Some speakers brought up a concern Monday that Commissioner Meyers, whose district flips from blue to red under the new map, will now be overseeing the vast majority of undeveloped land in Fort Bend County. That allows him to broker a deal with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to bring a power plant to town, one speaker suggested.

    After over an hour of public comment, Commissioner Morales condemned “unnecessary personal attacks” on advisory committee members. George acknowledged that some members of the public don’t like him and said that’s part of democracy. He dismissed claims that the redistricting effort would cost $1 million. 

    “Do not allow political interests of a few to cloud your judgment about the work being done in the interest of all,” he said. “We’ve heard over and over that we’re breaking the law. We are not breaking any law. Absolutely not.”

    Tension remained high in the final moments of Monday’s meeting until George announced adjournment shortly after 4 p.m. George interrupted Smith-Lawson as she tried to make a clarification, and then allowed the hired attorney, Morris, to speak. Commissioner Prestage stood up as though he was going to walk out, and shouting ensued over whether the court needed to first vote on an amendment before approving the original motion. 

    About a dozen residents spoke against the redistricting process, some of whom brought up George’s legal issues and suggested he may have switched parties and launched the redistricting effort as part of a deal for a ‘get out of jail free card.” 

    The judge is slated to go to trial in January on misdemeanor identity misrepresentation charges and in February on felony money laundering charges. George has accused Fort Bend District Attorney Brian Middleton, a Democrat, of pursuing a political vendetta against him.

    Fort Bend resident Sarah Roberts said she believes an arrangement was made for George to “provide a critical vote to gerrymander our local maps in exchange for preferential legal treatment.”

    “In exchange for making Meyers a super-commissioner with nearly half the county’s undeveloped land, Judge George appears to believe he will get a get-out-of-jail-free card. No matter your political alliances or allegiances, corruption is wrong and illegal.” 

    Chris Pino, a board member of the nonprofit Texans Against Gerrymandering, said the “Mike Gibson map” that was ultimately approved would remove up to half of the Asian voters out of Precinct 3. 

    “I understand the imperative to draw Republican-leaning maps, and since y’all hold the power, you have the legal right to do that,” he said. “Partisan gerrymandering is legal, but this has nothing to do with partisanship and everything to do with the clear language of the Constitution.” 

    Several residents also spoke in support of the redistricting effort. 

    Margaret Daniel, a Republican Party precinct chair, said the redistricting initiative is focused on “correcting injustice.” 

    “The action [in 2021] was taken without an advisory committee, without warning,” she said. “As a result, thousands of Fort Bend County voters were left without representation that reflects their communities or voices.”

    “Some are now arguing that redrawing the map in 2025 is disruptive, but we must remember that in 2021, over 80 percent of Fort Bend residents were reassigned to new precincts,” Daniel added. “At that time, apparently, disruption wasn’t a concern. I find it a double standard to allow Democrats to racially gerrymander seats for their purposes but declare racism when Republicans are seeking an electoral advantage. I’m advocating for equity.” 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Fort Bend Officials Face Off Over Redistricting – Houston Press

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    Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers got redistricted out of his own house in 2021 while his terminally ill wife was dying, and it appears he’s going to do all he can to rectify what he believes was an unjust and illegal process — by redrawing the county’s precincts again.

    Meyers said Wednesday that the county’s last effort to redistrict resulted in eight out of 10 county residents being moved to different precincts — meaning they were represented by officials they never voted for. Eighty percent of the county lost the representatives they had chosen, the longtime commissioner said.

    “Fort Bend County Commissioners Court undertook redistricting earlier this year after legislators and others flagged that the map that was approved over my objection in 2021 was illegal as it did not meet state or federal statutes,” Meyers said in an email. “The effort currently underway is to correct those deficiencies.”

    The Republican commissioner, backed by County Judge KP George and Commissioner Vincent Morales, is facing off against two Democratic commissioners who say a mid-decade redistricting effort is unnecessary, expensive, and disrespectful to the constituents who elected them. The current precinct boundaries are not illegal and have never been challenged in court, the Democratic commissioners maintain.

    The backstory on Fort Bend politics is key in this saga. A Democrat-majority court approved redistricting maps in 2021 that created three blue seats and one red, and caused Meyers to have to move so he’d live in the precinct he represents. 

    The Republicans gained a 3-2 majority on the five-man commissioners court in June when Judge George, twice elected as a Democrat, switched parties and promptly undertook a redistricting effort, even though such a measure is only required by law every 10 years when new Census data is available. 

    The GOP is now poised to take back one of the voter precincts, not because of a political vendetta, a spokesman for Meyers said this week, but because the current maps are unfair and illegal. Fort Bend County is about 50-50 in how it casts ballots on Election Day. A proposed redistricting map that could be voted on as early as Monday would move the county to two Republican-majority precincts and two Democrat-majority precincts. 

    Despite pleas from Democrat Commissioners Dexter McCoy and Grady Prestage, and several members of the public at a September meeting, to halt the redistricting process, Meyers and George appear to be intent on taking action. The likely outcome, according to several people close to the process, is that a new map will pass in a 3-2 vote. 

    Commissioners are slated to review the proposed maps on Thursday, October 9, and could vote at a special-called meeting on Monday, October 13. 

    McCoy and others have suggested that Judge George wants to redraw new commission precincts to deflect from his personal legal troubles. The judge is slated to go to trial in January on misdemeanor identity misrepresentation charges and in February on felony money laundering charges. George has accused Fort Bend District Attorney Brian Middleton, a Democrat, of pursuing a political vendetta against him.

    McCoy said the redistricting initiative is “not even political.” 

    “It is one person who is looking to save himself from jail and has switched parties to do the bidding of another party, and it’s a member of court who has been very upset since the last redistricting happened,” McCoy said. “[Meyers] lost land and he has been hell-bent on changing that ever since it happened. It looks like he may well get that at the expense of a great number of residents.”

    The Houston Press reached out to Judge George and all four commissioners. McCoy and Prestage agreed to phone interviews. Meyers answered questions via email.

    Prestage, the longest-serving elected official in Fort Bend County, has been on the commissioners court since 1990 and voted for redistricting maps four times in the past, including the current ones that were approved in 2021. He said he won’t vote in favor of any new precinct boundaries this time around. 

    “I don’t have any concerns about the maps that we’re currently under,” Prestage said. “They’re constitutional and they’re functioning well, from my vantage point. I’m not happy about this process, but at some point in time, you’ve got to be a realist. It’s going to happen.” 

    The Political Divide in Fort Bend County

    McCoy had big plans for the county he grew up in when he returned to Richmond in 2017 after graduating as student body president of Boston University and working on public education as an appointee in the Obama administration. 

    He worked for Fort Bend ISD and later became Judge George’s chief of staff. Over time, he said it became clear that his values didn’t align with the judge’s. McCoy resigned from George’s office and was elected to represent Precinct 4 in 2023. 

    Fort Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy said he’ll vote against redistricting maps. Credit: Daniel Vasquez

    Now the wedge between Judge George and his former chief of staff has grown even deeper. McCoy maintains that the maps approved in 2021 were legal and should remain in place until redistricting is taken up again in 2031. 

    “People are embarrassed,” McCoy said. “I’m embarrassed to even talk about it. I wish I could calculate the amount of human capital hours we have spent working on this ridiculous effort. We’ve spent so much of the past year focusing on the county judge and his legal woes. That’s not what people sent us here to do.” 

    In addition to being embarrassed, the residents of Fort Bend County are angry “and outright pissed off,” McCoy said. 

    Meyers responded that those who are upset are “people who do not want to lose a map that has three Democratic precincts in a county that is split 50-50. “

    “All of our constituents deserve a map that represents the political makeup of the county,” he said. “That is what we hope to achieve.”

    Fort Bend County’s Proposed Redistricting Maps

    A resident advisory committee voted September 29 to recommend five maps for consideration by the court. 

    A map that received the most votes from the 10-member panel would create two strong Democratic precincts, one strong Republican precinct and one “competitive precinct” that favors Republicans. Fort Bend’s current precincts are 60 percent red, 62 percent blue, 53 percent blue, and 56 percent blue. 

    This redistricting map got the most support from an advisory committee. Credit: Screenshot

    McCoy said the social media chatter among Fort Bend Republicans reveals that they originally wanted to draw three red precincts, but “that’s impossible in this county.” McCoy and Prestage are up for re-election in 2026, along with Judge George. 

    McCoy said he’s not voting for any proposed redistricting map but acknowledged that the GOP court members have the votes to pass it. The proposal first came to Fort Bend via Texas Rep. Matt Morgan, R-Richmond, who sent a letter to commissioners saying about one-fifth of its voter precincts did not meet the state’s population requirements.

    Some have questioned whether the maps approved in 2021 were drawn based on race, which would be a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Meyers has said that the 2021 map was pushed through by Democrats without an opportunity for the public, or even commissioners, to review it thoroughly. 

    “For the past two election cycles, we have been operating under a map that has been flagged as illegal, and this process is designed to correct that problem,” Meyers said. “I expect the commissioners court will approve a map that reflects the actual political makeup of our county, which is about evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and fair to all voters.”

    McCoy said any allegation that the current maps are illegal is a farce. 

    “In pulling at straws for justification for this unjust mid-decade redistricting, they literally tried to pull a rabbit out of a hat,” he said. “It is true that our voter precincts need to be rebalanced. It’s a routine thing that every fast-growing county in the state of Texas faces. By law, we’re supposed to address that and rebalance our precincts. They leveraged that to say that our maps were somehow in violation of federal law.” 

    McCoy said the proposed maps represent textbook gerrymandering, “dividing Asian and Hispanic communities and diluting their voting power to create another white plurality precinct in one of the most diverse counties in the nation.”

    “Let’s be clear: this is not about improving services or quality of life for our residents,” he said. “This is about settling political scores and boosting Commissioner Andy Meyers’ ego, so he can cater to developers instead of the people he was elected to represent.”

    McCoy has also taken issue with the removal of County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson from advising the court on redistricting matters or making recommendations on outside counsel. Commissioners voted 3-1 last month to remove Smith-Lawson from having any involvement in redistricting. Prestage left the room when the vote was taken. 

    George said publicly at the time that there are “trust issues” with Smith-Lawson, an elected Democrat. He also proposed last month hiring Butler Snow LLP, a well-known redistricting law firm, to advise the court, but removed the agenda item before a vote was taken. McCoy said it’s a waste of taxpayer money, noting that Butler Snow charges $20,000 per month. 

    “This proposed agreement to engage an outside law firm for general counsel services is a wasteful duplication of resources and a direct encroachment on the duties of Fort Bend County’s duly elected county attorney,” McCoy said. “The Texas Constitution and state law make clear that the county attorney is the county’s chief civil legal adviser.” 

    Meyers says the court hired attorney Allison Bass to advise on redistricting in 2021 and paid a nonrefundable $10,000 retainer but the lawyer did not report any billable hours.

    “Records show the county attorney’s law firm, Brazille Dunn, provided the overwhelming majority of the legal work on redistricting and billed more than 183 hours of work,” Meyers said. “I’ve requested that the county attorney provide me with documentation that they gave the map a full legal review. The county attorney has not provided any documentation that a full review was conducted.”

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Political Power Struggle Heats Up in Fort Bend County Redistricting Battle – Houston Press

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    The power struggle between Fort Bend Republicans and Democrats just ramped up with one party accusing the other of circumventing the law, misleading the public about the county’s redistricting process, and undermining the county attorney’s authority. 

    Commissioners Court meetings in Fort Bend County have been contentious for years, but the tone changed when County Judge KP George switched parties to become a Republican in June, giving the court a 3-2 majority. The county is now drawing new voting precincts at the suggestion of a Republican state representative and attempting to halt County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson, a Democrat, from providing legal advice or even assisting with the hire of outside counsel on the matter. 

    Fort Bend Commissioner Dexter McCoy, a Democrat, said he presented “smoking gun” evidence in August that exposed intentional efforts by Republicans to mislead the public with their proposed redistricting maps. Last week, McCoy lambasted Judge George on social media for his treatment of Smith-Lawson, arguing that the court doesn’t have the legal authority to stop the elected attorney from doing her job. 

    Fort Bend County Judge is under fire for trying to remove the county attorney from a Republican-led redistricting effort.  Credit: Screenshot

    It was suggested by a few public speakers during a special meeting earlier this month that George wants to redraw new commission precincts to deflect from his own legal troubles and secure re-election in 2026. The judge is slated to go to trial in January on misdemeanor identity misrepresentation charges and in February on felony money laundering charges. George has accused District Attorney Brian Middleton, a Democrat, of pursuing a politically motivated vendetta against him.

    McCoy took a shot at George’s legal issues on social media last week after the judge tried for a second time to remove Smith-Lawson from the redistricting process. 

    “Fort Bend Republicans, at the behest of their felony-indicted county judge, attempted to take an unlawful action to remove the duly elected county attorney from her duties,” McCoy wrote on X.  

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    Commissioners Court voted 3-2 along party lines in July to hire Rogers, Morris & Grover LLP  to oversee a commissioner-appointed redistricting committee. At a September 23 meeting, commissioners were slated to vote on another outside legal firm, Butler Snow LLP, to provide legal advice to commissioners on redistricting, but George withdrew the item before a vote was taken. 

    Judge George said he wanted to ensure that the attorneys advising on redistricting are serving the entire commissioners court, implying that he wanted the Republican interests to have a voice. “There is a trust issue here,” he said. 

    Although George took much of the social media heat, it was another Republican commissioner, Andy Meyers, who led the charge to not only strip a resident-led oversight committee of its power — saying it shouldn’t operate under the Texas Open Meetings Act because the members not making any binding decisions — but to remove Smith-Lawson from the process. 

    Meyers said that when the county redistricted in 2021, the process was not transparent and the approved maps moved him out of the precinct he represented. 

    Smith-Lawson said at a September 16 meeting that it’s common to bring in outside counsel for things like bond issues, but she wasn’t given an opportunity to vet the firms that were considered and was elected by the residents of Fort Bend County to participate in such discussions. 

    George said at the September special meeting that the firm they selected, Rogers, Morris & Grover, has 30 years of experience in redistricting law, but Smith-Lawson said no one ever provided those credentials to her office. The firm is known for litigating school board matters, she said, and she wasn’t sure if they had experience in redistricting law at the county level, particularly for a county the size of Fort Bend. 

    “I have not had an opportunity to thoroughly vet Mr. Morris but you all hired him over my objection,” she said. “The statute is clear. The county attorney’s office in this county and nine other counties has the sole exclusive right and duty to provide legal representation to the commissioners court, the department heads, elected officials, et cetera. That is not my opinion; that is the law.” 

    The court ultimately voted 3-1 — Democratic Commissioner Grady Prestage left the room — that the county attorney should have no involvement in any redistricting matters. McCoy pointed out that if a lawsuit is filed over the adopted redistricting maps, the county attorney by law is the official who would be tasked with defending Fort Bend. 

    “I’m sure she may refuse to defend your actions,” McCoy said to Commissioner Meyers. “You are going to be personally liable because you went against the opinion of the elected county official. You cannot put the county at risk and not be personally liable if you don’t have the protection of advice from your legal counsel.” 

    Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, a Democrat currently running for U.S. Congress, defended Smith-Lawson, saying that Judge George is “breaking trust with the voters and subverting the law.” The county attorney, not the commissioners court, has the authority to decide who represents the county in civil legal matters, Menefee said. 

    “This isn’t just a disagreement — it’s a power grab,” Menefee said in an emailed statement last week. “The county judge wants to politicize redistricting, so instead of respecting the will of the voters who elected Bridgette Smith-Lawson, he’s trying to strip her office of its authority. That’s not how democracy works.”

    “Let’s be plain: what’s happening in Fort Bend County is wrong,” Menefee continued. “It’s heavy-handed, and it’s meant to punish an elected county attorney who is simply trying to do her job. This fight isn’t just about redistricting. It’s about whether county attorneys, lawyers chosen by the people, can be shoved aside anytime politicians think they won’t like their answer. That undermines the rule of law.”

    Fort Bend County’s redistricting battle, in many ways, mirrors one that took place at the State Capitol earlier this year. Typically, boundaries are reviewed and redrawn after new Census data becomes available at the start of a new decade. Texas and Fort Bend County just adopted new maps in 2021, leaving many to question why the process is being initiated again mid-decade. 

    Those opposed to the effort say it’s unnecessary and is an effort to racially gerrymander districts or precincts in favor of Republicans. Supporters of the state redistricting effort initially said the lines must be redrawn to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The statewide redistricting maps are being contested in an El Paso federal court this week. 

    The Texas redistricting effort was initiated by a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice and public statements from President Donald Trump that he needed to add five Republican seats to the U.S. Congress. Fort Bend County’s redistricting process began after state Rep. Matt Morgan, R-Richmond, sent a letter to commissioners saying about one-fifth of its voter precincts did not meet the state’s population requirements.

    Fort Bend Republicans pushed for an overhaul of the precinct maps, claiming the boundaries adopted in 2021 were illegally based on race. Three of the county’s four commissioner precincts favored Democrats in recent election cycles. 

    Cynthia Ginyard, a former Fort Bend County Democratic Party chair, said the filing date for the 2026 elections is December 8, and a rush job on redistricting maps could put a massive strain on the county’s elections department. 

    “If we are so steadfast on doing this redistricting during an interim decade, then why not make it effective in ‘28?” she said. “Of course we’ll have to do it again in 2030. Do you see a domino effect on breaches of policy and protocol? We need to hit the reset button.” 

    Former Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chair Cynthia Ginyard asked the Commissioners Court earlier this month to pause its mid-decade redistricting process.  Credit: Screenshot

    George, Meyers, and Commissioner Vincent Morales are Republicans, and Prestage and McCoy are Democrats. Prestage suggested earlier this month that the Republicans withdraw their effort to bring in outside attorneys and strip the power of the redistricting oversight committee, but they refused. 

    “This is an unnecessary situation,” Prestage said. “Because I care about this county and where we’re going, I want to be able to go to the grocery store and not get asked, ‘What the hell are y’all doing?’ It is totally embarrassing. That hurts. It hurts a lot.”

    More than a dozen speakers addressed the court at a September 16 meeting in opposition to the redistricting effort. They called it a waste of taxpayer money and retaliation against Democratic adversaries. 

    Former Fort Bend County Commissioner Richard Morrison brought up concerns that the appointed resident-led redistricting oversight committee, on which he serves, should be following the Texas Open Meetings Act. Morrison said he believed the committee should be subject to the act because it has rule-making authority and is reviewing maps submitted by the public and voting on them. 

    “I really came here to urge the court to protect us, the members of the committee,” he said. “The DA is not a friend of mine. I worry that this DA may prosecute members of this committee for violations of the Open Meetings Act. I don’t want that to occur to me or to anybody on that committee.”

    “It seems to me that the safest way to work in this committee is to follow the open meetings and the open records act so that we don’t have to have the district attorney of this county come and tell us that we have violated the criminal provisions of these statutes and have to go through — God bless you, judge — what you’re going through,” he continued. “I would not wish that on my worst enemy.” 

    After Morrison’s plea, Commissioner Meyers proposed that the redistricting committee function in an advisory capacity and make no binding decisions or recommendations, therefore not being subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act or the Open Records Act. First Assistant County Attorney Michelle Turner said the motion was not legal; the court approved it anyway in a 3-2 vote along party lines. 

    Meyers cited an opinion provided to him by DA Brian Middleton’s office as the justification for his motion but noted that it was not Middleton’s opinion. When reached for comment on this story, a spokesman from Middleton’s office provided the following statement. 

    “The District Attorney’s Office does not have an opinion on any matter that may be the subject of a future criminal investigation. It would be improper to do so. Our legal opinion would be fact-specific. We don’t know all the facts and could not provide an opinion, even if ethical. A prosecutor’s opinion is generally expressed by either filing formal charges or declining them.”

    McCoy said he consulted with redistricting attorney Bob Bass over the summer and shared with the court the lawyer’s expert opinion that Fort Bend County’s current 2021 precinct maps are in full compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.

    “After County Judge KP George switched parties and cut a deal to save himself, he and Commissioner Meyers sought to diminish the voting power of minorities in the county,” McCoy said in a press release. “However, this is only after Commissioner Meyers went shopping for a legal opinion, because the lawyer that the county has hired for every redistricting effort since 1990, Attorney Bass, advised Commissioner Meyers against this effort and refused to be a part of the scheme.”

    Meyers said in July that Bass retired and no longer does redistricting work; McCoy said that was inaccurate and an effort to knowingly mislead the public. Bass has advised Texas counties on redistricting matters for decades and certified Fort Bend’s 2021 maps as legally sound, McCoy said. 

    McCoy also took issue with limiting the authority of the redistricting committee, asking at the September 16 meeting why the court would want to remove a mandate for a panel to do its work openly and subject to public scrutiny. He also questioned why redistricting was even brought up in the first place. 

    “I’m still curious why this is a priority for our taxpayers’ time and dollars,” he said. “Y’all have the votes to do whatever the heck you want to do. That’s clear now. But why do you choose to use that power for this, of all things? I don’t understand it.” 

    George scoffed at the accusations that the Republicans were operating in secret or circumventing the law. 

    “Nobody’s trying to hide anything,” he said. “Nobody is trying to create some map in the back room. I’m sick and tired of people saying, ‘You’re hiding something.’ That is absolutely not true.”   

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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