WHAT MONTGOMERY COUNTY’S ROAD BOND REFERENDUM SCANDAL COULD COST 
In the wake of last week’s indictment of 2 Montgomery County commissioners, a county judge, and a political consultant married to the county treasurer, Judge Craig Doyal has been suspended without pay this week, though the involved commissioners are allowed to keep serving for now. If the group is convicted of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act (having allegedly held closed-door sessions about a $280 million county road bond referendum that voters approved last year), the commissioners may be removed as well, writes Andrew Schneider this morning. University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus tells Schneider that the case, convictions or no, could also have broader implications for the county: “If the perception is that the government can’t handle it, then the voters may lose faith in the individuals involved, and [in the future] decide to simply not vote in favor of [these kinds of] bonds.†Schneider reports that upcoming funding needs for Montgomery county road projects are estimated at around $6 billion. [Houston Public Media] Photo of Alan B. Sadler Commissioners’ Court Building at 501 N. Thompson St. in Conroe: Montgomery County Attorney’s Office
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Interesting that in Montgomery county they prosecute misuse of public funds. If we did that here both the uptown TIRZ and memorial city TIRZ would be in big trouble.
Observer, while no doubt some in Houston playing with TIRZ funds are probably guilty of, at least, skirting the misuse of funds, the Montgomery officials are accused of violating an open meetings law.
So…there’s this, but there was also the Patton Village scandal and the scandal with the East Montgomery Improvement District’s involvement in the EarthQuest Adventures theme park. It surely does not have a monopoly on scandals, but Montgomery County does seem to get busted pretty often. I wonder whether that reflects on the quantity of scandals, the incompetence with which they are carried out, or some other factor.