Citizens Expose Unethical Practices Committed by County Judge

Citizens of Burnet County, Texas, exposed evidence during the October 8, 2024 commissioners court meeting of their County Judge using unethical tactics and abusing the use of taxpayer money in an effort to have the County Sheriff or someone in his office charged with a felony for alleged "payroll irregularities". On September 23, 2024, the Texas Attorney General's Office compelled Eddie Arredondo, the Burnet County Attorney, to release to a citizen 122 pages of public information that the county Human Resources director had claimed to be exempt from public disclosure. This public information response contained an email dated June 13, 2024, from County Judge James Oakley to his contact with Baker Tilly, the audit firm engaged by the County Commissioners to conduct an audit on the Sheriff's payroll. In the email, Oakley directs Baker Tilly personnel to remove from the final report "rhetoric from the Sheriff and Chief Deputy", instructs that "the report should not include any perceptions of an investigation by the DA", and Oakley also suggests adding "a one sentence response recommending a criminal investigation." The commissioners voted in September 2023 to spend $20,000 of taxpayer funds to engage Baker Tilly, and it was later learned that 3 of the 4 commissioners cast their vote having received no information on the issue. One commissioner recently told a citizen that he relied on what the judge had said in casting his votes to employ the audit firm. County Judge James Oakley has three pending cases with the Third Court of Appeals, as well as two Public Reprimands and one Suspension without Pay from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He lied to and gaslighted the public for months on the details surrounding the Baker Tilly audit, all the while maintaining that he was being transparent and following all the laws. He has accused the Sheriff of retaliation, and claimed that he is the victim of malicious prosecution by the Sheriff and the District Attorney. The DA attempted to address the Commissioners Court on September 24, 2024, regarding his investigation of the Sheriff's department payroll, but the Judge, with the aid of Commissioners Billy Wall and Joe Don Dockery, voted to shut down the DA from asking questions on the agenda item. Instead, citizens yielded their 3 minutes of public comment time to the DA so that he could speak his piece, which resulted in no back and forth discussion between the Judge and the DA on the agenda item. Oakley has made numerous attempts over the last year to deny citizens the opportunity to engage in discussion on agenda item issues, even though in November 2023 he signed the Rules of Conduct and Decorum which clearly state that "[t]he public is also invited to participate in the discussions of agenda items. " Watch the commissioners court meetings on YouTube at "Burnet County Government": on September 24, 2024, when the DA was only allowed to speak under public comments; and on October 8, 2024, when citizens read into the record the email in which Judge Oakley was directing and manipulating the audit firm to craft the report so that it conformed to his desired outcome. The link below will direct readers to a DropBox folder which shares evidence of public information taken from the Burnet County Commissioners Court official record.