FORT BEND COUNTY, TX (Covering Katy News) — The Fort Bend Independent newspaper has been one of the most consistent and informed sources on the indictments of Fort Bend County Judge KP George and Taral Patel, his former chief of staff and current candidate for Precinct 3 Commissioner.
Patel is running against incumbent Commissioner Andy Meyers, who received the newspaper's endorsement this week.
Patel and his former boss, County Judge KP George, have both been indicted for a scheme to create fake racist statements attacking them in order to generate sympathy for their campaigns and anger toward their opponents. George faces one misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity with the intention of manipulating an election. Patel faces four felony counts and five misdemeanor charges. The felony charges are for online impersonation, and the misdemeanor charges are for misrepresentation of identity. Earlier this week, prosecutors added a harassment indictment to the list of charges against Patel, showing that the investigation is still active and that more charges could be coming against both Patel and George.
The Independent's endorsement is noteworthy for its thorough recap of the ongoing investigation and the inclusion of previously unknown details, or details that have received little coverage, such as:
- Patel allegedly used phony email identities to file burdensome open records requests with Meyers’ office, which tied up the commissioner’s time and hindered his ability to serve constituents and remain focused on his campaign.
- Patel allegedly used those same phony email identities for public information requests to gain information about Meyers from the Democratic County Attorney, who not only fulfilled the requests but also provided more information than was requested. In one instance, Covering Katy News has confirmed that a document provided had no connection to Meyers but could be used to make it appear as though he had broken the law, even though he had done nothing wrong.
- Patel allegedly sent emails under the assumed name “Paul Rosenstein” to engineering firms doing business with Fort Bend County, claiming that donations to Meyers’ campaign would be wasted as he would not win re-election. The multiple emails from the alias “Paul Rosenstein” included fabricated political polls showing Meyers could not be re-elected with the new boundaries of Precinct 3.
- Patel has refused to participate in candidate forums. As a result, rather than proceeding without him, some organizers have chosen not to schedule a Precinct 3 forum, effectively allowing Patel to avoid answering for his actions.
- Meyers did not request an investigation of Patel. He asked the District Attorney to determine who was behind the racist attacks by Antonio Scalywag and others on the internet. The investigation then revealed that Patel was in control of the social media accounts that posted racist and divisive messages.
This is the link to the Fort Bend Independent endorsement that makes these points and more about the ongoing Patel case.