SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales is getting ready for a potential legal battle against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Gonzales will be represented by the Washington D.C. legal firm of Miller and Chevalier in the event Paxton makes good on a proposed rule that allows him to remove district and county attorneys from office.
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The proposal requires district and county attorneys in counties with populations over 250,000 to provide additional reporting to the AG’s office. That additional reporting would be for cases in which a person arrested for a violent offense is not indicted. It also includes cases in which a poll watcher or peace officer is indicted.
“District Attorneys who choose not to prosecute criminals appropriately have created unthinkable damage in Texas communities,” Paxton said in a statement last month. “These enhanced reporting standards will create much-needed transparency and enable the public to hold their elected officials accountable.”
The proposed rule was filed with the Secretary of State in late February and was published in the Texas Register on March 8, which marked the beginning of a 30-day public comment period. According to Paxton’s office, he could enact the new rule following the public comment period.
Gonzales has called the proposal “burdensome, unnecessary and potentially very costly to our citizens.”
“The mission of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office is public safety and holding accountable those who endanger our community. Shifting limited resources from the courtroom to the copy room in order to comply with these new rules will greatly impact our mission. We are already required to report case dispositions to the Office of Court Administration,” Gonzales said in a statement last month.
The Bexar County Commissioner’s Court met in executive session and then voted on the hiring of the law firm on Tuesday for a “potential challenge to an administrative rule proposed by the Texas Attorney General.”
KSAT 12 News reached out on Wednesday to the Bexar County Public Information Office and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for information regarding how much money the county and its taxpayers will pay the firm and for how long.
Monica Ramos, public information officer for the county, referred KSAT to the DA’s Office for information.
In response to a request for comment from KSAT, the DA’s office wrote: “We would refer you to the following article regarding yesterday’s action by the Bexar County Commissioners’ Court,” and then provided a link to a local media outlet’s website.
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