July 2024. Blues Vol 40 No.7

Anthony Buzbee, who

Anthony Buzbee, who successfully defended Attorney General Ken Paxton during the 2023 impeachment trial in the Texas Senate, is again taking on a politically charged case. Buzbee, one of the region’s most prominent attorneys, confirmed he has taken on Galveston County Republican Sheriff Nominee Jimmy Fullen’s fight to retain his peace officer’s license. Earlier this month, the executive director of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement recommend- 8 The Blues - July ‘24 Williams began an all-out war against Fullen. Following him to campaign events and posting hundreds of hours of selfie videos on Facebook, making all kinds of allegations of misconduct by Fullen. I saw first-hand how frickin’ crazy this guy was when he stood up at a candidate forum and accused Fullen of being under investigation by TCOLE. Which at the time was an all out lie. This guy would get right in Jimmy’s face at events and scream at him. Fullen exercised extreme patience with him, because I probably would have punched the dude for getting in my face. Everyone agreed, Williams was obsessed with taking Fullen down and most thought Nolen had put him up to it, although Nolen denied it. Despite his crazy antics, Williams did his homework and did in fact find some instances where Fullen had left details of his past off some law enforcement applications including the fact that one department had terminated him. In his younger days, Fullen was arrested for a simple assault for coming to another person’s defense which was later dismissed. I’m not going to go into every instance of what Fullen may or may not have done in his past. Or why applications presented to TCOLE may or may not have included everything they should have. But the fact is, Williams launched a complaint against Fullen with TCOLE and TCOLE has recommended that Fullen’s TCOLE license be suspended. Fullen has several options to appeal this decision including going to State Court. One thing for sure is that Fullen isn’t throwing in the towel and his supporters aren’t walking away including the BLUES and this author. Jimmy Fullen has done nothing in his past that would preclude him from being Sheriff of Galveston County other than he broke a few TCOLE rules. He didn’t break any laws, commit any felonies or mistreat anyone. He may have made some mistakes in his past that I’m sure he now regrets. But every damn one of us has done things in our past that we all regret. That’s life. But as a person, Jimmy Fullen is one of the best human beings you will ever meet. He is kind and respectful and just wants to make a better place for citizens of Galveston County to live and work. In conclusion, Fullen is the best candidate for the next Sheriff of Galveston County and despite all the efforts to keep him from winning, I think he’ll overcome all the adversity and become the next Sheriff. I hope the TCOLE board agrees that we all make mistakes, and that Jimmy Fullen deserves the chance to become a great sheriff of Galveston County. Famed local attorney Tony Buzbee calls TCOLE director’s recommendation result of ‘sour grapes’ ed that Fullen’s law enforcement license be revoked. “This misguided effort is all a distraction, and the appellate decision, which I’m confident we will prevail in, won’t even come about until well after the general election,” Buzbee said. “I call this whole thing a “sour grapes” effort to defeat someone they couldn’t beat at the ballot box because Jimmy won handily. “Bottom line, we will prevail.” The recommendation followed an investigation into a detailed complaint from retired Galveston County Sheriff’s Office investigator Kenneth Williams. Williams alleged that Fullen omitted adverse incidents in his career and life on the required personal history report. TCOLE’s executive director agreed. TCOLE’s letter to Fullen reads. “Because respondent omitted or failed to disclose information and provided false or untruthful statements, respondent violated TCOLE standards related to mak-

ing, submitting, causing to submit, or filing reports to TCOLE.” Fullen said that any omissions were not to clean up his record. He publicly acknowledged earlier brushes with the law and arrests but maintained that because of the outcome of those cases, he believed he didn’t need to be reported. He also explained that other issues raised in the complaint were taken out of context and misrepresented the facts of the situations. The complaint became a point of contention during the Republican Primary between Fullen and Sheriff’s Office Major Ray Nolen. Williams, posting under his online pseudonym Costa Loca, mounted an all-out campaign against Fullen using documents he obtained that he said were proof that Fullen failed to file the proper personal history documentation. Williams obtained the personal history report Fullen filed with the Precinct 2 Constable’s office when he went from elected Constable to a deputy since he had to resign to run for sheriff. Fullen also filed a personal history report with the Texas City Police Department, where he served as a reserve officer for over a decade. That was requested when an audit of the personnel files at Texas City PD, Chief Landis Cravens said. Nearly nine months after Williams filed the first complaint and three months after Fullen won the primary election with roughly 57% of the vote, the executive director of TCOLE recommended that Fullen have his peace officer’s license revoked. The peace officer’s license is paramount because state law requires a sheriff to have an active law enforcement license before taking office. For now, it’s just a recommendation. Since Fullen has appealed, his peace officer’s license remains active, and under state law, he remains eligible to be on the November ballot. An administrative judge will set a hearing to hear evidence from TCOLE and Fullen’s defense. In that process, Buzbee will join Fullen’s other attorney, Greg Cagle. Cagle is well known for his work defending law enforcement officers as an attorney assisting the Texas Municipal Police Association The judge will make a recommendation to the TCOLE commission, which will vote to accept or deny that recommendation. Even should the commission not rule in Fullen’s favor, he can appeal to a district court judge, said TCOLE’s Director of Government Relations Gretchen Grigsby. The Blues - July ‘24 9