Carla Wyatt
It’s too early to consider removing Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt from office or reducing her duties following her arrest, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Thursday.
The embattled treasurer was arrested and charged with misdemeanor burglary of a vehicle Dec. 28. She was previously charged with driving under the influence and twice violated her bond conditions. Wyatt, in both instances, blew above the limit into an ignition interlock device that a judge ordered be installed in her vehicle following her DWI offense.
“It’s a very concerning situation. Of course, the allegations are concerning. But the fact of the matter is, voters elected Treasurer Wyatt,” Hidalgo said. “A lot of elected officials cope with things in different ways, but as far as a revision of her duties or any kind of removal — not right now, we need to wait and see what the court says.”
Commissioners discussed potentially reassigning duties Wyatt’s office is responsible for in executive session, which is not open to the public. While the details of their discussion were not made public, commissioners did not take action on the item.
Wyatt was first elected in 2022, and is running for re-election this year. One of the two Republican candidates who have filed for the position, Marc Cowart, said at Thursday’s meeting that her arrest constituted a “disturbing pattern.”
“The issues reported in the media transcend party and politics. The recent arrest of Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt is deeply disturbing, especially following her prior arrest,” Cowart said. “Carla Wyatt’s behavior is growing into a disturbing pattern that has broken the public’s trust. Restoring trust begins with acknowledging when it has been compromised and taking appropriate action to ensure that it does not happen again.”
Wyatt’s DWI charge was dismissed in August after she completed a pretrial diversion program. As Harris County treasurer, she sits on the Harris County Bail Bond Board, which adjudicates bail disputes, violations committed by bondsmen and assists in guiding county bail policy. Wyatt is scheduled to go before a judge for a probable cause hearing Jan. 26. Should the judge determine there was no probable cause for the charge, the case will not proceed.
Wyatt’s attorney, Christopher Downey, told the Houston Chronicle that, although Wyatt was charged with burglary, she was simply sitting in an unoccupied vehicle and had no intent to steal.
“If, for example, you get into a vehicle thinking it’s your Uber and it turns out not to be, that’s not burglary,” Downey said.
Although Wyatt has twice been charged with criminal offenses, as an independently elected official, commissioners lack the authority to directly reprimand her or remove her from office. They can, however, reassign duties from her office to other county departments.
See here and here for the background. Judge Hidalgo’s statement is perfectly reasonable – Carla Wyatt is innocent until proven guilty. If she is ultimately convicted, then action up to and including removal may be warranted, and if she’s not – if the charges get dismissed, for example – then there’s nothing to address. We’ll know more after the January 26 hearing. I should note that removing her from office, if it comes to that, is not the same thing as removing her from the ballot. Wyatt would have to do that herself, again if it came to it.
Unfortunately in Texas it is almost impossible to replace a nominee (and she is unopposed in the primary). It’s easy to get her name off of the ballot (she just has to request it removed by a certain date, I believe early September), but basically the only way a new nominee can be placed on ballot is if the orginal nominee dies or is declared by a judge as being ineligible for the office (which is normally done by the nominee moving out if the jurisdiction, so small ask to her to move to another county for the good of the party).