House Speaker Dennis Bonnen won’t face criminal prosecution, Brazoria County DA says
The Brazoria County district attorney announced Thursday no criminal charges will be brought against Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen following an investigation into a conservative activist’s allegations of a quid pro quo offer.
Brazoria County DA Jeri Yenne said in a statement that after reviewing the Texas Rangers’ more than two-month investigation, she determined there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal prosecution.
The announcement came just days after Bonnen said he would not seek re-election as House Speaker or to the Texas legislature. Bonnen’s decision followed a wave of calls for his resignation after Michael Quinn Sullivan, the CEO of the political advocacy group Empower Texans, released a previously secret recording last week.
The audio largely supported Sullivan’s allegations that during a June 12 meeting, Bonnen appeared to offer writers of the group’s news site long sought-after House press credentials in exchange for the group’s firepower in targeting 10 of his fellow Republican incumbents in their re-election bids.
While Bonnen will not face criminal prosecution, Yenne called his statements that were revealed on the recording “repugnant.” On the audio, Bonnen can be heard calling some Democratic members “vile” and “a piece of s---” in addition to expressing his goal for it to be “the worst session in the history of the legislature for cities and counties.”
“The behavior and statements as reflected on the June 12, 2019 recording for which Speaker Bonnen has apologized are offensive, lacking in character and integrity, demeaning to other human beings including local government officials, cities and counties, and the Members of the Texas House of Representatives who placed their confidence in Speaker Bonnen and are entitled to his respect,” Yenne wrote.
Shortly after Yenne’s announcement, Cait Meisenheimer, a spokeswoman for Bonnen, stressed his cooperation with the investigation and lamented “the defamation of a man’s quarter-century in public service.”
“Today’s decision by the District Attorney deflates Michael Quinn Sullivan’s entire reason for going public three months ago — that, according to him, the Speaker solicited a bribe and broke the law,” Meisenheimer wrote. “Unfortunately, we now live in a political climate where one is guilty until proven innocent, and not only has that thrown the ability of Republicans to hold onto our House majority into jeopardy, it sets a dangerous precedent moving forward.”
Meisenheimer added: “While justice prevailed today, unfortunately, the damage has been done.”
Sullivan and Democrats respond
Sullivan, who first raised the allegations in late July, took to Twitter on Thursday and urged Texans to ask themselves why officials such as President Donald Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, “get indicted for little or nothing, but unethical guys like,” Bonnen don’t.
“The answer is simple: the criminal justice system is highly political and often illegitimate,” Sullivan wrote.
Meisenheimer quickly fired back on Twitter, asking if Sullivan finds the Texas Rangers and Brazoria County DA’s office to be those things.
The suggestion of coordination for political ends was also raised by the Texas Democratic Party.
“No one is above the law. Texans deserve to know if the corrupt Republican Speaker and the Republican Brazoria County District Attorney arranged a deal for him to step down instead of being dragged to court and jail,” Manny Garcia, the Texas Democratic Party’s executive director, said in a statement. “Texans know exactly what the Republican Speaker of the House said behind closed doors and now they deserve justice. So, where are the grand juries, subpoenas, and comprehensive reports?”
Yenne forcefully refuted the suggestion of a deal in an interview Thursday.
“Who would that deal have been made with? Certainly not myself,” Yenne said.
Yenne said she thinks a 2015 law passed by the legislature that shifted prosecution for such investigations from the Travis County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit to the home county where the defendant resides is a fair one.
“I think the system the legislature put in place five years ago is sound. It allows for DA recusal. I made a decision not to recuse myself, and to make a decision based on the evidence, which is what we as prosecutors do every day,” Yenne said. “There is no deal cut. I spoke my mind about what I thought about Speaker Bonnen’s actions. The legislative committee requested an investigation and I voluntarily within 24 hours requested a criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit — which as I stated in my statement — I did because it is a competent organization, premier law enforcement agency, separate from Brazoria County.”
The investigation
Yenne said her office met with Texas Rangers investigators multiple times over the course of the investigation, which consisted of interviews, and obtaining evidence and statements — including the recording of the June meeting itself.
At the heart of the investigation was determining if what was said during the June meeting between Sullivan, Bonnen, and Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock who was chair of the House GOP Caucus at the time, violated laws prohibiting certain conduct by government officials, such as offering bribes.
Yenne said the recording was “scientifically authenticated,” in addition to Bonnen, Sullivan and Burrows verifying its accuracy and statements made on it.
“The investigation is complete,” Yenne wrote. “I anticipate upon this decision this investigation will now be delivered to the House General Investigating Committee for an appropriate review.”
The allegations, which have roiled the House since they were first raised three months ago, led to the House General Investigating Committee in August unanimously voting to request the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit launch an investigation.
The day after the committee’s meeting, Yenne followed up with a request to investigate the same. Brazoria County — Bonnen’s residence — was the proper venue for any prosecution, due to a section of government code that stipulates prosecution of an offense against public administration take place where the defendant resided at the time an offense was committed.
Yenne noted that as the DA, she was allowed to file a request to recuse herself and appoint another county. However, she chose not to.
“That is not the right thing to do,” Yenne wrote in Thursday’s statement. “District Attorneys are elected to make tough decisions. Passing this responsibility to another District Attorney would only cause undue delay for many months and another District Attorney would be in no better position to make a decision.”
The office of Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, who chairs the House General Investigating Committee, could not immediately be reached for comment. Last week, the committee announced it retained a panel of legal advisers to assist in reviewing the Rangers’ final report and advise the committee on next steps.
“My colleagues on the committee and I have consistently said that any investigation must follow the facts and the evidence without regard to political consideration,” Meyer said in a statement last week. “This bi-partisan panel will aid the committee in evaluating the final evidence solely on legal considerations.”
The panel of attorneys consists of: Patricia Gray and Will Hartnett — both former House members — and Thomas R. Phillips, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
“Due to the heightened public interest, my colleagues and I want to ensure transparency in this critical matter remains consistent with the constitutional guarantees of due process,” Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth and vice-chair of the committee, said in a statement last week.
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 10:02 AM.
