Crumbling Cassels
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A political shockwave in Texas!
The District Attorney in Angelina County will only serve one term amidst allegations she mistreated victims, and failed to end a growing backlog of criminal cases. It comes amidst an ongoing investigation by Dolcefino Consulting. One of our reporters (Brian Collister) with the details on the CRUMBLING (Janet) CASSELS.
The deadline to file for re-election in Angelina County has come and gone and some of the biggest names in local politics are calling it quits.
And here at Dolcefino Consulting we’d like to think we played a part in their decision.
First there’s district attorney Janet Cassels, who’s had enough.
We’ve exposed how she’s allowed a huge backlog of serious felony cases to pile up while pursuing misdemeanor cases against political enemies.
“I feel like it was definitely political,” said Don Lymbery.
“Why do you think it’s appropriate for you to prosecute these cases. Why didn’t you bring in someone special to do it,” said Wayne Dolcefino.
Cassels spent two days to get just one class c conviction of former County Judge Don Lymbery on a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Two dozen other misdemeanor cases she had piled on Lymbery went away.
And we also revealed how Cassels has made it difficult for victim services advocates in her office to do their job helping crime victims.
Former employees told us how Cassels didn’t care about helping crime victims while victims told us they felt abandoned by the D.A.’s office.
“I think they care about the crime. I think they care about getting a conviction. But as far as the family is concerned, no. I don’t feel like they care,” expressed Annette Archer.
Then there’s precinct three Commissioner Terry Pitts. He’s also stepping down.
We paved the way for his departure by reporting on his issues with asphalt.
“I don’t know nothing about asphalt,” claimed Pitts.
Three years ago, Pitts promised taxpayers he would repair 11.1 miles of road in his precinct for a little more than half a million dollars in borrowed tax money. He didn’t even come close.
Instead, Pitts later admitted he had only repaired 7.2 miles of road with all that asphalt.
65%of what he had promised.
“There’re other roads in the county, I have friends that live on that are ten times worse. That you could actually – your car will fall into a pothole and might need a crane to get out. So, why Harley Golden,” said Denise Kendrick.
Pitts also ordered Harley Golden Road paved, not once, but twice.
“The only reason was to hide the first work that was done,” said Bob Flournoy.
Former Lufkin City Attorney Bob Flournoy thinks what Pitts did on Harley Golden Road is a cover-up, after the amount of asphalt and oil sand used on the project didn’t add up.
“This is a really a smoking gun. This tells the whole story of incompetence, of corruption, of coverup. And it’s all locked in to 4.8 miles of road,” continued Flournoy.
Finally, there’s county attorney Cary Kirby who also won’t be running for office again.
Kirby’s been fighting us on the release of even the most basic public records for months. Apparently, he’s not a big fan of government transparency.
With Cassels, Pitts, and Kirby not running for re-election Angelina County voters will now have a chance to change the direction of county government.
And for those who are elected to these positions, we’ll be watching.
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