County Attorney requests Attorney General’s decision on nepotism law for the upcoming election

A letter from the Office of Stephens County Attorney, Gary Trammel, was received by the Office of the Attorney General’s Opinions Committee, on Wednesday, September 9, for a ruling on the nepotism law in the upcoming general election.

The letter was sent in an effort for the Attorney General to rule on whether Michael Roach, Stephens County Judge, and Kevin Roach, Stephens County Chief Deputy and a candidate for Sheriff, can serve as officials in county government simultaneously as the two are biological brothers.

“I have been requested to ask for an opinion as it may apply to nepotism in our local county government involving our County Judge and a candidate for the Office of Sheriff, who happens to be the brother of the County Judge,” according to the letter sent to the Attorney General’s Opinion’s Committee.

The letter to the Attorney General Opinion’s Committee cites Texas Government Code 573. The code prohibits public officials from appointing any individual to a position that is to be directly or indirectly compensated from public funds or fees of office, if the individual is related to the public official within the second degree by affinity or within the third degree by consanguinity, according to the Texas Government Code.

The letter sent to the Attorney General Opinion’s Committee provides 14 questions on the legality of the two biological brothers serving in the county positions such as:

• Can the Chief Deputy run for Sheriff, if his biological brother is the current sitting County Judge?

• Can the County Judge per form all of the acts required during the election process in the primaries, as well as the general election, if his biological brother is a candidate for Sheriff?

• Can the County Judge perform his statutory duties as the chief budget officer if his biological brother holds an elected county office?

• Is the County Judge and other county commissioners prohibited from canvassing precinct returns of any race involving the biological brother of the county judge?

• Does the nepotism statute prohibit the other county commissioner’s from confirming the election of the Sheriff if one of the candidates is the biological brother of the current County Judge?

The letter to the Attorney General’s Opinions Committee also provided 16 relevant Texas Attorney General Opinions and three relevant case laws that the County Attorney deems relevant to the pending decision.

“We don’t want the appearance of impropriety and I will continue to operate with integrity,” Michael Roach, Stephens County Judge said. “I would never do anything where it would compromise the law and when necessary, I will recuse myself. I support bringing transparency and honesty to the process and that is regardless of if Kevin is elected or not. I fully support the County Attorney asking for a decision to be made regarding nepotism.”

An attorney general opinion is a written interpretation of existing law. The opinions cannot create new provisions in the law or correct unintended, undesirable effects of the law. Attorney general opinions do not necessarily reflect the attorney general’s personal views, nor does the attorney general in any way “rule” on what the law should say, according to the OAG’s website.

Sections 402.042 and 402.043 of the Government Code list the officials who are authorized to request formal attorney general opinions on questions of law. The attorney general is prohibited by statute from giving a written opinion to anyone other than an authorized requestor. The only authorized requestor in Stephens County is the district or county attorney.

A decision will be made in the coming weeks on the upcoming election.