Eric Dick
The Harris County Department of Education board of trustees reversed course on censuring trustee Eric Dick Wednesday, one month after voting to propose a censure in the wake of a grievance hearing about his unpaid ethics fines.
The board voted unanimously, with trustee Erica Davis absent, to avoid a censure of the prominent Houston attorney citing that the move “best protects the department and its resources, and is in the best interests of HCDE.”
Despite abandoning the censure, the resolution acknowledged that the board believes that Dick “may have violated” the board’s ethics code by racking up $40,000 in unpaid fines to the Texas Ethics Commission during unsuccessful bids for other local offices.
Board president Amy Flores Hinojosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why the board abandoned its censure.
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Dick acknowledged during the meeting that his “actions may have led to negative publicity of HCDE, reputational harm, embarrassment for the department and its Board of Trustees and an expenditure of HCDE resources.”
Dick also said that he would make a $40,000 donation to the educational foundation of Harris County Department of Education “to be used for the CASE debates program for future lawyers.”
The program, called The Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for kids, is part of HCDE’s services for students who may not participate in a sport or music but still want to have somewhere to go after school to engage in hobbies or clubs. The debate program is a free for “inner-city youth” which provides training and coaches for debaters, according to a news release about the after-school program.
Dick did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would pay the $40,000 fines, but he has previously said that he would fight the fines as they represented a systemic problem with the ethics commission. More than $1.5 million in fines are due to the ethics commission and have been sent to the Attorney General for collection, according to state records.
Harris County resident and retired NASA software engineer John Cobarruvias initially filed complaints against the Dick with the ethics commission after the 2019 and 2022 violations, one of more than 60 complaints Cobarruvias said he has filed in the last 15 or so years. He also filed the grievance against Dick in July with the HCDE.
When reached for comment Wednesday, Cobarruvias said he was upset by the board’s “disturbing” decision not to censure Dick while accepting a $40,000 donation from him to the HCDE debate program.
“In lieu of a censure, the Harris County Department of Education accepted a $40,000 donation,” Cobarruvias said. “But he still owes the taxpayers and the Ethics Commission $40,000.”
See here for the background; this story was from the week before Christmas, so I’m catching up here. I do share John Cobarruvias’ (*) frustration at the HCDE’s action here, especially given their utter lack of an explanation for said action. I mean, come on, y’all at least owe us that much. On the other hand, it’s not like a censure was going to have any material effect – Dick was just re-elected to another six-year term, and the number of people who might change their vote in 2030 based on him being censured versus whatever this was can almost certainly be counted on one hand, with fingers to spare. It’s not on the HCDE to get Dick to pay his fines to the TEC – unpaid fine collection is Ken Paxton’s job, one he could not care less about – but at least that contribution to CASE would be nice, if he ever does make it. (How do you think Mattress Mack would bet on that proposition?) Really, at this point I’d just like someone to explain why the Board did what it did. Even a self-serving reason is better than no reason.
(*) Cobarruvias is a long-time Democratic activist and was for years a blogging colleague of mine. I haven’t seen him in a few years, but I know him well, so I’m noting that here.
All I know about this ass clown is that his television ads are cringeworthy and [apparently] his ethics are in question.
He’s a master at getting free media