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Six months after threatening to file a petition against the district attorney, a group of Victoria residents did Thursday.
The group, dubbed the Victoria 10 in online Advocate discussion forums, filed the petition to remove District Attorney Steve Tyler from office.
“Basically, we’ve been working on it slowly, taking our time with it, getting it right,” said Scott Hanson, a 38-year-old spokesman for the group. “We’re not legal experts, so we took our time.”
Tyler, who denied the petition’s allegations, cannot be removed from office simply because a petition was filed in the 24th Judicial District. A courtroom battle would first ensue.
The petition will be presented to a district judge, who will decide if the petition has merit. Officers are removed in such instances only following a jury trial, according to Texas law.
The group filed the petition for numerous reasons, including the assertion that Tyler is guilty of official misconduct, oppression, incompetence and for violating constitutional rights.
“He’s sweating bullets, I can tell you that,” Hanson said.
Tyler, however, said he’s not worried.
“The whole thing is a crock,” Tyler said, adding that he plans to file a brief official response today.
The petition is fraught with mistakes in procedure and errors in fact, Tyler said.
“It’s a pretty gross distortion,” Tyler said.
Judging by the state of the petition, Tyler said the group will require several attempts to draft it correctly.
Tyler also accused the Advocate of helping petitioners to draft the document and of bolstering the group by publishing a story about it, and allowing members to post comments on the newspaper’s Web site.
Similarly, Hanson accuses the Advocate of mistreating the petitioners in news coverage and of being sympathetic to Tyler, who has feuded with law enforcement.
Hanson’s brother works in law enforcement.
Advocate Editor Chris Cobler offered his thoughts.
“We’re taking it from both sides, which shows we’re trying to be as fair as possible,” Cobler said in a telephone conversation Thursday night. “For Tyler to think that we’d have anything to do with the petition is outrageously false.”
Hanson said Tyler’s slew of recent indictments – of the mayor, police chief, former city attorney and police lieutenant – spurred the group to file the petition now.
“We finally got it done and got it in,” Hanson said. “Even if nothing happens, at least the group took a stand. We’re waiting to see what falls out from it.”
Tyler isn’t one to back down from challenges, though. That fallout could become explosive.
“If they want to play silly games with six signatures, we can do this,” Tyler said.
John Griffin, a Victoria attorney, said the success rate of such petitions is minimal.
“It has a track record of not working,” Griffin said. “I’ve been here 25 years and I don’t recall any recall petition for any elected official getting any enthusiasm at all.”
Gabe Semenza is Public Service Editor for the Advocate. Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact them at 361-580-6519 and 361-580-6521 or gsemenza@vicad.com and lwilber@vicad.com. Also comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.