The man is a model of consistency, I’ll give him that much.
Eric Dick
Fresh off running unopposed for re-election to the Harris County Department of Education’s board of trustees, attorney Eric Dick may face disciplinary action after the rest of the board chose to consider censuring the elected official due to $40,000 in unpaid ethics fines.
The board voted 6-0 with Dick absent to draft a resolution of censure before the next board meeting, claiming that he had violated the board’s code of ethics.
The $40,000 in campaign ethics fines were issued by the Texas Ethics Commission after his unsuccessful bids for an at-large seat on Houston’s City Council in 2019 and for Harris County treasurer in 2022. He had served on the HCDE board until December 2022 and then was appointed to the board again in January 2023 after his campaign for treasurer.
Harris County resident and retired NASA software engineer John Cobarruvias initially filed complaints against the official 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 a grievance with the HCDE against Dick in July.
“Trustees are elected officials. Taxpayers should expect them to do some basic things, tell the truth, follow the laws of the state, honor subpoenas issued by judges, pay your fines assessed by the state,” Cobarruvias said at Wednesday’s hearing. “What happens if you and I don’t pay our parking tickets? You know, it’s pretty clear. But the worst part about all this is that he’s thumbing his nose at the law.”
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Dick did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story, but he has previously said he is challenging the fines, which he called “indicative of a systemic issue within the TEC.” More than $1.5 million in fines are due to the TEC and have been sent to the Attorney General for collection, according to state records.
Earlier this year, the attorney was also sanctioned $250,000 for his legal practices, which he said he would fight, and he was under investigation by the Hawaii Office of Disciplinary Counsel after allegedly illegally soliciting Maui wildfire victims. Dick characterized it as a misunderstanding at the time.
When Dick ran for City Council in 2019, the commission found that he paid for mailers from the Harris County Black Democratic News, featuring photos of prominent Black politicians on the front, including former President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, state Sen. Borris Miles, and Mayor Sylvester Turner. The back of the mailers included endorsements of candidates, including Dick.
Miles and Thomas denounced the mailers at the time, saying they had no affiliation with the group. The mailers also lacked a disclosure saying who paid for them, as required by state law.
I wouldn’t hire that cat to mow my lawn.