Council communication of Phil Wood at the October 18, 2005 regular meeting.

“At the last council meeting (10/4/2005), Art Stone (a citizen) came before us and asked if any council member had sought legal advice from the city attorney’s office in regards to the election fraud lawsuit. Only a couple of us replied that we had not and most of you remained silent, apparently preferring to ignore the question. At a court hearing two days later, three of you were summoned by the court to respond to a contempt of court action for failing to appear for depositions by which you had legally received subpoenas to attend, a few weeks earlier. Apparently, the subpoenas were drafted to you as individual citizens and not necessarily as members of the council. After all, you are not being sued, nor is the City of Forney.

As a visitor to that hearing in Kaufman, it was my observation and understanding that the court gave you the benefit of the doubt in that you did not intentionally intend to refuse to cooperate with the summons for deposition and were acting on the advice of the city attorney to not attend your deposition meetings. During your testimonies, there were a lot of questions asked and a lot of maneuvering to avoid answering questions by parsing words and debating the meaning of certain words and phrases, instead of just answering the questions. Finally, after a long afternoon, you were ordered to appear for depositions sometime in the following week so both sides can get ready for the pending trial.

Gentlemen (council), our city is plagued with the suspicion that there has been some kind of fraud committed in the Spring 2005 elections. A lawsuit detailing these accusations has been filed and, like it or not, we as individuals are now involved in the search for justice. This issue must be resolved for the good of the community and I am here tonight to appeal to you, to work with the justice system and get this thing behind us so that the City of Forney can move forward. Some of us are just being asked to answer questions and tell what we know, so that justice can be determined by the court. Let’s work with that process, instead of against the process. If mistakes were made, then let’s assume they were innocent mistakes and let the court decide if they were not. I too, have been subpoenaed to answer questions in this case. However, I did not (and do not) believe it proper to involve the City’s attorney on my behalf since the lawsuit is between two citizens and not the City of Forney, itself. Why place this expense on the taxpayers?

I believe I am not the only one on this council that has grave concerns about our role in some of the allegations. I think some of us may be getting tired of this and wish it would go away. Look out into this gallery where our friends and neighbors sit. Look beyond these walls to the citizens of our town, to those people we represent and let’s take action and work with the process to resolve the allegations for their benefit. Let’s make sure everyone’s vote was counted and the election was legal. This is not the time to stick our head in the sand or to dance around the truth and facts of the allegations or debate the meaning of simple words, just to avoid telling what we know.

Think back to those things you hold dear in your life; things like truth, honor and doing the right thing. Things that you may have learned in church, charity organizations, scouting programs, Sunday school lessons, things your parents taught you; convictions you will stake your life on and strive to teach your children. This is the time that we, as honorable men, should be leading the cause to clear the suspicions that are now at the core of our town. Councilmen, our town is watching us and expecting us to do the right thing and work with the process to find justice; not against it.

Please comment on this tonight during your time in council communication. Thank you.”

Phil Wood

City Council Member

City of Forney