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Citing Abuses, Texas Governor Ousts
Leader of Youth Agency
March 1, 2007
By Ralph Blumenthal
Gov. Rick Perry removed the
chairman of the Texas Youth Commission on Wednesday over charges
that the agency covered up the sexual abuse of incarcerated
juveniles.
Mr. Perry also called for the
ouster of the acting executive director, the appointment of an
independent inspector general and a shake-up throughout the
commission, which runs 13 schools housing 3,000 felons under age 21.
“Leadership starts at the top,” a
spokesman for Mr. Perry, Ted Royer, said. “And the governor believes
the very top leadership has failed.”
Late Wednesday, the State Senate
voted unanimously to demand that the governor appoint a conservator
to take over the commission temporarily.
On Tuesday, the Senate Criminal
Justice Committee disclosed details of long-secret investigations by
the commission and the Texas Rangers showing that two supervisors at
the West Texas State School in remote Pyote routinely roused boys
from their beds for sexual encounters that were reported but went
unpunished by the school superintendent, who now has a top
leadership position at the commission. The supervisors were allowed
to resign without facing criminal charges, but are now under
investigation.
The dismissed chairman, Pete C.
Alfaro, is a former mayor of Baytown who was first named to the
commission in 1995 by Gov. George W. Bush and was appointed chairman
by Mr. Perry in 2004. Mr. Alfaro did not respond to messages seeking
comment. His latest five-year term expires in August.
Hours after the governor’s
spokesman said that Mr. Alfaro had been told by phone that he was
being replaced by his vice chairman, Donald R. Bethel, a spokesman
for the Texas Youth Commission, Tim Savoy, said the agency had
received no notice of the action. The board has a meeting scheduled
for Tuesday.
Mr. Perry, a Republican, also
called on the board to replace the acting executive director, Neil
Nichols, who is the general counsel and a 33-year veteran of the
agency. Mr. Nichols took over last Friday upon the sudden retirement
of the executive director, Dwight Harris, who started as a
caseworker in 1981.
The governor said Ed Owens, deputy
executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, had
agreed to serve as the commission’s acting executive director.
Though the governor makes
appointments to the seven-member board, he has the power by himself
only to remove the chairman, legal experts said. He can fire members
upon a finding of gross fiscal mismanagement by a legislative audit
committee made up of the lieutenant governor, who is the president
of the Senate; the House speaker; and two other members from each
chamber.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on
Wednesday demanded sweeping changes in the commission.
Senator John Whitmire, a Houston
Democrat and chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, said
Wednesday that he had “no confidence in the board” but that Mr.
Perry was not yet ready to seek its ouster.
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