CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County commissioners decided unanimously Wednesday to pay district attorney Mark Gonzalez's legal fees as he defends himself from a lawsuit aimed to remove him from office.
"You know, people ask 'Was it a win today?' And I wanna say 'I don't know yet,' because of the conditions," he told 3NEWS after the ruling.
The decision came with multiple conditions, including approval of the attorney Gonzalez hires, which means that the attorney defending him up to this point, Christopher Gale, may not be able to stay on the case.
"(There) has to be a list of three individuals, um, there's a cap on how much that they will spend, and then to decide who gets to be my attorney, which is -- I don't know if it's a win yet," he said.
Gale is a well known local civil-rights attorney who has handled Gonzalez's defense since the beginning of the case.
"I think he's who I want, that every individual should get the attorney that they want and, for me, that's Chris," Gonzalez said after the ruling.
Because he has sued the county multiple times, commissioner Brent Chesney said he saw Gale staying on as a conflict of interest, and was not in favor of Gale continuing to defend Gonzalez with the county paying his fees.
"I don't know how you get paid by Nueces County and sue Nueces County. That's a hard one for me to swallow," Chesney said during the meeting. "We don't hire Chris because Chris sues us."
Gonzalez said he doesn't think it should matter whether Gale has sued the county or not, but understands where Chesney is coming from.
"I can see that -- I understand that argument, you know, but he'll be representing me and I think he'll do a great job," he said.
A second motion to dismiss in the case to remove Gonzalez from office was denied by visiting judge David Peeples on Tuesday.
Gale said in March that he filed the motion because he doesn't believe the plaintiff, Colby Wiltse, and county attorney Jenny Dorsey had met the burden of proof.
"They’re up to their second amended pleading," Gale said Wednesday morning. "I guess they just can figure out how to file the correct things, but we have filed two motions to dismiss because they’re simply not following the rules and haven’t satisfied the burdens that are necessary in removal proceedings for verifications."
In the motion, Gale and Gonzalez state that the court decided against pursuing several allegations in Wiltse's original petition filed in January because there wasn't corroborating evidence, and that those allegations also should have been left out of the lawsuit county attorney Jenny Dorsey refiled in March.
A petition was filed by a local conservative group to remove Gonzalez for several charges, including incompetence.
"The last motion was denied by Judge Peeples, so we’re gonna proceed forward, but at least that puts an endgame to what they believe is sufficient and what I believe is insufficient," Gale said. "Hopefully we won’t ever have to test that theory, but if we do, at least we can get on with it."
Ultimately, Gale said the lawsuit is a political ploy, and encouraged county commissioners to vote to pay Gonzalez's fees earlier Wednesday and during court, because this case could end up being a cautionary tale.
"We’ve gotta keep in mind that this suit was brought by one citizen to remove a twice-elected official from office, so the payment of the attorney’s fees for somebody that finds themselves in that position – it should be a no-brainer. It could be the county attorney, it could be the county commissioners, it could be anybody," he said. "It just becomes a political game and every single person in this county or any other one will be subject to the whim of people who file petitions of this nature."