Did Tarrant County judge cross an ethical line in campaign for appraisal district board?

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A candidate for the Tarrant County Appraisal District board says County Judge Tim O’Hare’s involvement in the race is crossing an ethical line.

Chuck Kelley, a Colleyville city council member, is running for Place 3, one of three open seats on the board after the Legislature created publicly elected directors for appraisal districts.

Kelley said County Judge Tim O’Hare told him not to run a few minutes after he left O’Hare’s office to file his application for the race.

State property tax administration law says candidate applications for the appraisal district board must be filed with the county judge, who is responsible for reviewing applications and determines whether to accept or reject them.

“Tim calls me on my way home and says ‘I’m calling you as a friend,’” Kelley said, recalling the conversation in January. “’I just want you to know this as a friend that I found this guy and you don’t want to run against him.’”

“That guy” is Matt Bryant, a real estate investor also running for Place 3.

In a post on his campaign Facebook page, Kelley said O’Hare should not be involved in the race.

“He has hand chosen 3 candidates and is now using his political donations to push out his endorsements,” Kelley wrote in the April 6 post. “He is the person who is running this election. Would you be comfortable with the head of Tarrant County Elections paying to endorse candidates? Seems to be an ethics violation to me. Do you want him to control all of the board that values your property?”

The Tarrant Appraisal District is responsible for the election and has contracted with the county elections administrator to handle the election, O’Hare told the Star-Telegram in a statement. He said his role was limited to receiving the applications.

“The only election function my office is responsible for are those associated with the receiving and filing of Application for Place on the Ballot,” O’Hare wrote. “The county judge office is not acting as the Elections Administrator for this election.”

He said he has no intention or ability to control the appraisal district, which sets appraisals for property taxes and administers exemptions in Tarrant County.

“While it’s amusing to hear that someone believes I can control the TAD Board, it simply doesn’t work that way,” O’Hare said.

Susan Hays, an Austin and Alpine-based attorney who works in political law, said O’Hare in his role as the filing authority should not be weighing in on the candidates.

“The county judge has the power to accept or reject applications for the ballot. Ethically, gatekeepers should not be picking sides. That’s for the voters to decide.” Hays said.

Kelley said Bryantt invited him to a meeting in February at Vaquero Country Club in Westlake where Bryant informed him that O’Hare would be endorsing Bryant, Eric Morris and Callie Rigney.

Bryant could not be reached for comment.

Morris is a Haltom City council member running for Place 1 against Trae Fowler, a developer and business owner, and Sayeda Bilqees Syed, who has served on the TAD board and works as a mechanical engineer.

Callie Rigney, the mayor pro tem of Colleyville, is running in Place 2 against Eric Crile, a firefighter and paramedic.

Early voting starts April 22 for the May 4 election.

O’Hare did not respond to a question asking whether he called Kelley after he filed, but acknowledged his endorsements.

“Like many other Tarrant County residents, I want to see pro-taxpayer advocates elected to bring reform to the appraisal process and greater transparency to TAD,” O’Hare said. “The candidates I have endorsed will do just that.”

Kelley said that while he and O’Hare are politically aligned, the pair are not friends.

“You know it’s never good when someone’s calling you as a ‘friend’ because I had never broken bread with Tim, I’ve never had a drink with Tim,” he said. “Tim is a political person that I helped.”