TEMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM Mari Paul on Monday filed a complaint of abuse of official capacity against her former HELP Center boss, Judy Morales. Morales, former Temple mayor pro tem and District 2 City Council member, pleaded no contest in April on misdemeanor charges of destruction or alteration of public documents. She was given deferred adjudication, nine months of probation, 24 hours of community service and was required to pay a $750 fine plus $239 in court costs. She is running to regain the District 2 City Council seat she resigned from twice after other Council members said they no longer trusted her and indicated they would vote to remove her from office if she didn’t step down. Among the factors leading to the Council’s asking her to resign was Morales’ attempt to enlist Paul’s help in deleting emails sought by a Telegram open records request and a recall campaign that Paul started against the entire Council as a result of their inaction on several matters. Among items at issue was whether Morales was using tax-funded resources such as her HELP Center email account in her campaign for the Temple City Council seat. Controversy also erupted over the Council not enforcing Section 4.9 of the city charter, which prohibits a person who works for a public entity from being on the City Council. When Morales first ran for office, she was working for the HELP Center, a county agency. Morales speaks out for first time Morales spoke with the Telegram about the issue on Thursday and Friday for the first time since her plea deal, saying she didn’t address questions before because her attorney told her not to speak. “Mari lied about not being a volunteer with my campaign. I have witnesses and letters proving that. And apparently she did things on the side in the office when I wasn’t there. That’s why I pleaded guilty,” Morales said Thursday, although she actually pleaded no contest. Sue Hamby, a local business owner and community volunteer, said she was sitting next to Paul when she volunteered to help with Morales’ campaign. Pat Patterson, a real estate broker, wrote a letter to Morales affirming that Paul attended a campaign meeting for Morales and volunteered to help with the election. Morales supporter Jodi Lane Vasquez wrote a Jan. 17 letter to Steve Cook, Bell County Human Resources Department director, saying she was at the campaign organizational meeting and Paul introduced herself as Judy’s associate and a “very willing volunteer.” Morales said Friday she didn’t know if Paul worked for her campaign during work hours in the county office because she didn’t spend a lot of time in the HELP Center office, even though she was Paul’s direct supervisor. But it is what Morales asked Paul to do that got Morales in hot water. In a Nov. 9, 2013, phone conversation that Paul recorded, Morales asked Paul to delete files from county computers. Morales also asked for Paul’s computer password so that she could delete emails from her computer. “That was my fault. I didn’t realize I was doing anything against the law,” Morales said Thursday. “The Telegram had already printed a negative story about the city charter. … I didn’t know what they were looking for. I didn’t want to be blindsided again.” Bell County Judge Jon Burrows said in February he learned early in Morales’ campaign for the Temple City Council position that she was using her county email to campaign. “I told her she couldn’t do that anymore. Judy said she hadn’t been thinking when she did it and wouldn’t do it anymore,” Burrows said, adding he had no reason to believe she continued using the center’s staff and county resources after that. Paul informed investigators in her statement that Morales used HELP Center employees, supplies and office equipment to help with her successful 2011 campaign for City Council. “But I never forced any of the staff to do anything. I don’t know why Mari and Frances Fisher are trying to bring me down. They’re totally harassing me,” Morales said. “They’re trying to ruin my reputation because of the campaign going on.” Morales accused Paul and Fisher of hacking into her personal home computer and taking information later put on Paul’s and Lynn Woolley’s Facebook pages. “I filed a police report on that, too, in April. I may go to the FBI on that one,” Morales said. “What have Mari and Frances done to help the city besides point fingers?” Morales asked. Paul said Temple Police Officer Kevin Garelick told her on Monday that Morales filed a report about three weeks ago that accused Paul of computer hacking. He had printouts of information from Paul’s Facebook page and asked her where she got them. Paul denied hacking Morales’ home computer, and said Morales maintained contact with the HELP Center after she retired. Morales said in a candidate forum for the current election that she would be “exonerated.” “Maybe I over-spoke. But I pleaded no contest. That means I wasn’t convicted of anything,” Morales said. The deferred adjudication decision means that if she completes requirements, her conviction would be removed from the judicial record. dmckeon@tdtnews
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 09:16:20 +0000
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