- Brief Update - Shelton Charles Case -

Here's the latest.

On November 6, 2007, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal - the 3rd one - that was filed by the Texas Attorney General on behalf of the Texas Lottery.

The Court also ruled that all costs were assessed to the appellant - meaning the State of Texas. Folks, the Texas Lottery does everything in its power to drag things out hoping that those suing them can't handle the cost and time involved and will simply give up and go away.

An example of this is the Cindi Suarez case. It was finally set to go to court last month and the Friday prior to the Monday court date, the TLC settles with Ms. Suarez. I couldn't reach Ms. Suarez so I made an open records request to obtain the documents to see how they settled it but the TLC filed for an AG opinion to keep it from me. So I don't know how much they paid her but I'm quiet certain that she was paid off so that their actions wouldn't be heard in a PUBLIC court.

Whatever the amount was - ya'll need to understand that this is taxpayer money being spent and the TLC drug this case out for a VERY long time. The cost to drag these cases out is extremely high - again - it's taxpayer money. Ms. Suarez was suing for discrimination. She was just one of many who was recklessly fired by the TLC.

Now back to Shelton Charles case. It would seem that with all appeals exhausted, his case will proceed to court and we WILL finally get the sordid details. In case you don't remember what happened - to make a long story short - he worked for the commission for a long time. He is truly an expert in IT. To give you an idea as to how valued he was - he quit his job once and within months the TLC was calling him to PLEASE come back to work. So he did.

Then he got a new boss who wasn't very nice nor appreciative of the current staff. The work environment changed drastically. One of the things Shelton was concerned about was the lack of progress on the Disaster Recovery Site and the cover up that it was operational when in fact, it was not. He was concerned about many things that was going on at the TLC - he didn't approve of lying or covering up so one day he sent an email to several members of the legislature and he copied me in the email.

He was fired a couple of days later.

Folks - the things Shelton complained about was of public concern - namely - how taxpayer money was being spent/misused, open records violations, and misconduct by Commission management. His actions probably fall under the whistle blower act though I'm not a lawyer so ...

At any rate, the TLC and the Texas Attorney General have spent lots of money and time in legal maneuvers and have FAILED at all of them so far. But there's no doubt that they will continue to fight - cover up - and spend taxpayer dollars to keep Shelton's story from a PUBLIC courtroom. I pray that there's no amount of MONEY to shut Mr. Charles up. I want to see the experts tell a jury about the disaster recovery site, I want to see the employees testify under oath ... Gawd - this would be a dream come true. Of course, I know that within a day of a court date, the TLC will offer to write a check to stop it. That's what they always do ...

So, bottom line. As of today, the TLC has lost THREE appeals and foolishly spent tons of money fighting this case. Money that should have been spent for our schools.

Congratulations to Shelton and his legal team. I'm ready to see this go to court - I will be there sitting FRONT row.

Now read the 5th Circuit of Appeals Court Decision - it's a real slap in the face to the state of Texas - click here (pdf).

Links To Shelton Charles (Plantiff) Legal Stuff

Plantiffs Original Petition To The Court, pdf
Plantiff's First Set of Interrogatories to TLC, pdf
Plantiffs First Requests for Production to TLC, pdf
Plantiffs First Set of Interrogatories to Gary Grief, pdf

3rd Appeal - US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals - Appeal Dismissed! Click here - pdf
Court warns AG - "improvidently brought and doggedly prosecuted such an appeal"

More to come ...