Pastor Tom Brown, State Sen. Rodriguez Testify At Mayor’s Recall Hearing

Mayor John Cook’s attorneys called state Sen. Jose Rodriguez and Word of Life Pastor Tom Brown to the stand during Monday’s recall hearing. Cook’s team is trying to prove recall organizers illegally obtained signatures by circulating the petitions at churches, including Word of Life and Jesus Chapel.

For several months, Brown has been one of the more vocal supporters of a recall against Mayor John Cook and city Reps. Steve Ortega and Susie Byrd.

During Monday’s recall hearing for a lawsuit filed by Cook to have the recall election thrown out, Brown pleaded the the Fifth Amendment, even refusing to testify whether it was he who posted a message on his website inviting people to sign the recall petition at his church.

Cook, Ortega and Byrd are facing a recall election for not implementing a voter-approved city ordinance meant to take away the health insurance of the gay and unmarried partners of city employees.

Brown and his attorneys said the pastor has a right to plead the Fifth to any questions that can incriminate him, since the district attorney is investigating Brown for potentially breaking the Texas Election Code by circulating the recall petitions at churches.

Brown was on the stand for more than three hours as Cook’s lawyers pointed out a state document that shows Word of Life church is a nonprofit corporation, and that Brown is president of Word of Life.

Despite the document, Brown said, “I do not understand our church to be a corporation, we are a religious organization.”

Earlier in the hearing, state Sen. Jose Rodriguez testified. Cook’s lawyers called the lawmaker to the stand.

“When you’re talking about a corporation — including a non-profit corporation like a church — getting involved in the political process to the point of making a political contribution, that’s where the Legislature drew the line and said, ‘We’re not going to tolerate that,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez testified that the Texas Election Code, amended by the state Legislature, “prohibits a political contribution, that can include a circulation of a petition,” at a church. Rodriguez voted on the amendments to the code.

Caballero asked Rodriguez which signatures should be cast out.

“Is it your testimony that only those signatures that you say violate the Texas Election Code — only those — should be thrown out. And if enough good signatures are left standing, then the election should go through?” she asked.

“Yes,” Rodriguez answered.

Caballero likened the law that prohibits churches from circulating a recall petition to legislation in the South that would be meant to “disenfranchise Blacks.” “(What) if you have a bunch of crooks who want to stay in power and the base who wants to bring down the crooks meets in churches,” Caballero said.

“I don’t have any evidence and neither do you that disenfranchising people was the legislative intent in passing this code,” Rodriguez later told Caballero.

Rodriguez said that, according to the law, if a church provides anything “of value” for a political purpose, then it’s breaking the election code. “If the church begins to use its resources, its papers, pens, computers … then it would be a violation of the election code,” he said. Rodriguez added that a church’s premises would be considered something “of value,” too. Caballero presented Rodriguez several hypothetical situations. She asked if it would be illegal for a church-goer to take a recall petition to church in her purse and incidentally ask for a pen to sign it with. Rodriguez said he didn’t believe it would be illegal for the church to furnish that pen to one person for that person.

Cook said the city and he were served in a separate federal lawsuit.

“We actually brought a lawsuit in federal court against the mayor and the city of El Paso for enforcing this election code against the churches and these individuals in an unconstitutional way, they’re trying to restrict core first amendment activity,” said Joel Oster, referring to the separate lawsuit. Oster is also representing Brown.