On Thursday, the Harris County Commissioners Court decided to reimburse former elections administrator Cliff Tatum for nearly half a million dollars in legal expenditures related to a criminal probe into the 2022 midterm elections.
After a brief executive session in which they discussed the payment, the court members returned to approve it without further discussion. Commissioner Tom Ramsey of Precinct 3 was the only one to vote against the reimbursement, which was authorized by a vote of 4-1.
The county will pay Tatum $493,092.
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Employees who require legal assistance for a criminal inquiry related to matters within the purview of their work shall get the payment in accordance with a policy authorized by the Commissioners Court in 2022. The targeted individual must have been cleared of all allegations, found not guilty, or had the case dismissed in order to be eligible for payment after the investigation is complete.
To make sure they are eligible for payment, the person must provide copies of their legal bills and other supporting paperwork after the investigation is over. Any resulting payment must be approved by the Commissioners Court.
According to records, Tatum is represented by Ryan J. Meyer, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP’s Dallas office. A request for comment from him was not answered.
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Lack of paper ballots at some polling places and other administrative problems plagued the November 2022 election. An audit later released by the Texas Secretary of State’s office revealed several shortcomings that hindered voting.
In response to voter concerns, the Texas Rangers and former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg opened an investigation into the election. Darryl Blackburn, a Harris County employee, faces felony charges of fabricating employment time cards as a consequence of the two-year investigation. However, there were no discoveries of fraud or other election-related offenses, and Tatum was exonerated of any involvement.
Ogg claimed that after voters filed concerns about the election, mostly related to a shortage of paper ballots, her office was legally obligated to launch an investigation.
After defeating Ogg in the Democratic primary in March, Sean Teared took office on January 1.
Due to the current prosecution against Blackburn, the district attorney’s office stated on Thursday that it was unable to comment.
We are aware of the county policy, as you would expect, an office representative stated in an email. In order to decide what, if any, next actions to take, we are now reviewing the matter.
Tatum became the fifth individual to oversee Harris County elections in five years when he was appointed the county’s election administrator in July 2022.
21 losing GOP candidates filed lawsuits to try to overturn the election results due to ballot paper shortages and grievances regarding the vote count. A visiting judge ruled that not enough votes were impacted to alter the outcome of those races, upholding all but one of the election results.
Because there were more disputed votes than the 449-vote margin of victory, the judge did invalidate the results of the race for the 180th state district court. The decision that would have forced Democratic incumbent Judge DaSean Jones to take on losing Republican opponent Tami Pierce has been appealed.
Jones lost to Republican incumbent Jimmy Blacklock in a battle for the Texas Supreme Court last November.
In 2023, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed a state law that abolished Harris County’s office of election administrators and returned election-related responsibilities to the offices of the county clerk and tax assessor.
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