Retired Army Lt. Col. Maricela Alvarado, left, and retired IT executive Amy Suhl

UPDATE: State Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, has released a statement in response to the report today that Gov. Greg Abbott removed two women from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct because they did not agree with Abbott on a case involving same-sex marriage. Noting that the report comes just a few days after Abbott rescinded his support for an incumbent legislator who made racist comments about his opponents in the Republican Primary, Turner said:

“Gov. Abbott’s appointees swear an oath to serve the people of Texas, not to parrot the governor’s views. Gov. Abbott’s apparent decision to rescind appointments because his appointees were unwilling to condone a judge engaging in official acts of discrimination is a sad relic from another era. This latest secret recording reveals that for all the happy talk about diversity and inclusion, the Texas Republican Party really hasn’t changed at all.”

Two former members of the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct believe that Gov. Greg Abbott removed from the commission because he disagreed with their stance on a case involving same-sex marriage, according to an article written by Taylor Goldenstein and published today (Thursday, Dec. 5) by the Houston Chronicle.

The two — retired IT executive Amy Suhl and retired Army Lt. Col. Maricela Alvarado — were appointed last year in June. But their names were removed from consideration about nine months later when it came time for the Texas Senate to confirm them. Goldenstein notes that since 2017, only one other person has been removed from the panel for a reason other than resignation or death.

Suhl and Alvarado said they were told their names were removed from consideration because Abbott had decided to go in a different direction. But they think the real reason was because they voted in favor of sanctioning McLennan County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley of Waco because Hensley would perform opposite-sex marriages by refused to perform same-sex marriages. The commission announced Monday, Dec. 2, that it was issuing a public warning to Hensely.

According to today’s article, audio that Suhl made of a meeting and later a phone call with members of Abbott’s staff had been reviewed by Hearst Newspapers, which owns the Chronicle, and those recordings seem to indicate that the staffers were trying to pressure Suhl into going along with Abbott’s anti-marriage-equality views in deciding the case. One Abbott staffer said in the recordings that the governor and his staff “hope that people understand that they’re serving the governor, not themselves.”

The commission was, in fact, created to “handle delicate cases of judicial misconduct in private and without political interference,” Goldenstein noted.

For the complete story, visit Houston Chronicle here.