Rev. Tom Brown and his far-right Christian fundamentalist Word of Life Church have been a thorn in the side of good government in El Paso, Texas for some time.
But this time they have definitely gone too far; they've been repudiated by a court, and it may cost them $250,000.
The El Paso Times has a helpful timeline to the larger context of this story.
In brief, back in July 2009, the El Paso City Council voted to extend partner benefits to LGBT municipal employees.
This enraged Rev. Brown and the Church, and a petition campaign began to repeal the law. The referendum eventually passed 55/45 in Nov. 2010.
But there were problems, like many citizen-authored bills it was poorly worded and retired cops, firemen and other city employees complained the ballot initiative would also revoke their retirement benefits as well. Word of Life Church's smart bomb to the gays wasn't so smart.
In response, the El Paso City Council voted in June 2011 to restore health benefits to LGBT partners of city employees and others affected by the proposition. In short order, Rev. Brown launched a Holy mission to recall Mayor John Cook and City Council Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega, a story that traveled across the country to the pages of the New York Times.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has more details:
The political drama in the west Texas town started last summer when Pastor Tom Brown of Word of Life Church issued a politically charged email to the community. Brown, who sent the email under the guise of his Tom Brown Ministries, attacked El Paso Mayor John Cook and El Paso City Council Members Steve Ortega and Susie Byrd because the three voted to extend health-care benefits to domestic partners.
Brown then joined forces with a group called El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values (EPFTFV) and announced he would recall Cook, Ortega and Byrd. His ministry’s website posted an “Open Letter to City Council” that said in part, “If you are up set at this action and would like to sign and/or circulate a recall petition against Mayor John Cook and Rep resentatives Susie Byrd and Steve Or tega, then fill out the form below. Share this page with your friends and get them to fill out the form. Thanks.”
Brown’s church and ministry essentially organized and coordinated the recall campaign, taking the lead role in circulating petitions. The church gathered enough signatures to put the matter on the ballot, but Brown overlooked one thing: Texas election laws prohibit corporations (which includes non-profit groups) from intervening in elections.
And the whole mess was brought to Texas state court to sort out when Cook filed for injunctive relief to stop the recall.
The El Paso Times reports that last week the Texas 8th Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in agreement with the lower court that the recall effort unequivocally violated Texas election law. They took it one step further and granted the injunctive relief of halting the corrupted recall election, something the lower court had declined to do. And they were not particularly kind to the lower court judge:
"Despite having viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's order and indulging every reasonable inference in its favor, we find the trial court's order denying injunctive relief is so arbitrary as to exceed the bounds of reasonable discretion," the ruling says.
The Church may now find itself
liable for as much as $250,000 in costs the Mayor of El Paso incurred in this episode. The Mayor's attorney, Mark Walker told the
El Paso Times, "We're going to do everything we can to collect our fees and expenses." They are substantial:
At the start of the court fight over the recall, Cook signed a contract with Walker's firm, Cox Smith, saying the mayor would pay whatever the case cost when it was over. At the time, Cook assumed it would cost about $20,000, but by Friday, Walker estimated the bill to be about $250,000 -- more than the mayor's entire savings.
But in his lawsuit against Pastor Tom Brown, El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values, congressional candidate Ben Mendoza and others, Cook argues that if he wins, the other side should be ordered to pay his lawyers.
Walker said all he has to show is that recall advocates violated Texas election law -- something the appellate court affirmed in its order Friday.
In the court battle over the legality of the recall effort, Brown and the Church received help from the
Alliance Defense Fund. The far-right, Christian conservative legal group is infamous for juxatposing LGBT equality gains against perceived "religious freedom" infringements in court battles. ADF recently argued in 11th Circuit Federal Appeals Court that a student's religious-based antigay animus should not impede her graduating an accredited psychological counseling program from Augusta State University.
They lost.
Wonder if the Alliance Defense Fund will stick around to help the good Reverend with his possible liability case?
I certainly hope the Mayor eventually prevails, it certainly shouldn't fall to our public servants—or the taxpaying public—to incur the cost that cranks like Rev. Brown rack up in their never-ending war to make America a pure Christian theocracy.