Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — A Hays County resident was removed from the room after speaking out of turn during the June 23 Hays County Commissioners Court meeting.
Prior to the debacle, independent county judge candidate Liz Sumter Gajdos took to the podium during public comment. In this, she made several remarks toward commissioner and county judge nominee Michelle Cohen, who recently won the Democratic primary seat against incumbent Judge Ruben Becerra in the May runoff.
“I’m here to set the record straight,” began Sumter Gajdos. “I’m running for Hays County judge as an independent because of you, commissioner Cohen. Your inability to tell the truth is astonishing. Your willingness to mislead and outright lie to get a vote is despicable.”
As she was finishing the previous sentence, former Hays County Democratic chair Jon Leonard spoke up from the back of the crowd, asking for the court to make Sumter Gajdos stop, due to alleged violations of the rules of the courtroom. Becerra responded, requesting Leonard to let her continue with her allotted time.
Leonard continued to interrupt the speaker five more times, with Becerra warning him several times throughout Sumter Gajdos’ attempt to speak.
“Who’s running this court,” asked the former chair. “You need to ask her to stop making personal attacks.”
As the bailiffs approached Leonard, he continued to state that he is “not getting up until this court enforces its own rules.”
Commissioner Morgan Hammer requested a legal opinion on the matter, to which assistant general counsel Jordan Powell noted that the Sumter Gajdos’ comment is allowable within court rules.
According to video footage shared by Texas State House Rep. Erin Zwiener, Leonard was uncooperative with the bailiffs and laid on the group as they attempted to remove him from the courtroom, until he was ultimately removed during a recess session.
Zwiener took to social media, following the incident, to share that “the decorum rules for public comment in the Hays County Commissioners Court prohibit using public comment as a platform to insult any member of the court of the public,” adding that Becerra is responsible for enforcing these rules; therefore, this was an “an unacceptable abuse of power.”
These rules are available on the Hays County website in Section E of the Rules of Decorum, which state, “It is not the intention of the Hays County Commissioners Court to provide a public forum for demeaning any individual or group. Neither is it the intention of the court to allow a member of the public to insult the honesty or integrity of the court, as a body or any member of the court, the court as a whole or any citizen or group.”
Becerra commented after the meeting, noting that Leonard was someone he knew personally, making the decision difficult, but “in that chair, my duty is not to friends, critics or political sides. My duty is to the public process. We paused, consulted with the county attorney and proceeded to restore order, so the meeting could continue.”
“People over politics,” he concluded.
To listen to the full meeting, visit bit.ly/4vul4RR.
