With the press pounding out incredible stories about Jack Stick’s tenure at the Health and Human Services Commission and its Office of Inspector General, would it be surprising to learn that Stick, before he came to HHSC, had possibly earned a sanction from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct because he had “persistently failed to follow the law and demonstrated a pattern of failure to maintain professional competence in the law?”
Might be true
Yes, this well might be the case. But this allegation can never be confirmed or denied, unless Stick says something, because the Commission’s sanction would have been “private.” This form of censure means the Commission has found “sufficient evidence [that] supports a finding of judicial misconduct,” but not severe enough for public sanction. Under the Texas Constitution, the Commission does not reveal the name of the jurist so admonished unless there is a compelling public interest. Those so sanctioned apparently don’t have to mention it either, even when applying for a state job.
Stick left municipal judge position in Bee Cave under a cloud
Why is this a possibility? It is no secret that in 2010 Stick left his position as a municipal court judge in Bee Cave under a cloud. KXAN and local media had reported on his judicial wheeling and dealing of traffic offenses in exchange for donations to the City of Bee Cave, thus allegedly cheating the state out of its share of those traffic fines. He so offended his court clerk, Jennifer Curry, with his conduct that she filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct and brought a lawsuit against Stick when she was fired.
Complaint with Commission on Judicial Conduct filed
Curry’s complaint against Stick was filed with the Commission February 11, 2010. It alleged Stick was:
“dismissing cases without a proper motion from the prosecutor, failing to follow state statutes with regard to offenses involving minors and alcohol, engaging in improper ex parte communications with defendants whose cases were pending before the Bee Cave Municipal Court and filing criminal contempt charges against her in the [Bee Cave court] in retaliation.”
The website of the Commission maintains a PDF file of all private sanctions issued, minus, of course, the names of the jurists so sanctioned.
Private sanction resembling original complaint
The following private sanction is in that file, dated April 1, 2010.
The judge persistently failed to follow the law and demonstrated a pattern of failure to maintain professional competence in the law when he (a) granted deferred disposition to Commercial Driver’s License holders who were cited for the offense of speeding; (b) improperly waived the statutory requirement for minors cited for consumption of alcohol to attend alcohol awareness programs and/or to perform community service; (c) placed a defendant’s criminal case on “hold” for a year after the defendant informed the court that he was being deployed overseas; (d) placed a defendant on deferred disposition for a period of time in excess of the maximum 180 days allowed by law; (e) dismissed three traffic citations without a motion from the city prosecutor and/or without first placing the defendant on deferred disposition; and (f) failed to reduce his orders of deferred disposition and final judgments to writing. [Violation of Canons 2A and 3B(2) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.] Private Admonition and Order of Additional Education of a Municipal Judge. (04/01/10)
It should be noted that the original reporting by KXAN on the situation in Bee Cave mentioned a commercial truck driver and how his case was handled unusually by Stick. That reporting is no longer on the internet and we don’t have a copy. There are obvious similarities to Curry’s inital complaint and the above sanction.
Commission doesn’t have to tell details on private sanction
The problem is that we can’t be sure it relates to Stick because the sanction is private and the Commission almost never releases or acknowledges its decision making in such cases. Its only actions consist of notifying the judge of its decision and letting the complainant know that a private sanction has been issued, per a lawyer at the Commission.
As Curry has settled her case with Stick and apparently has a confidentiality agreement with him, it can never be easily confirmed or denied that Stick was reprimanded by the Commission.
Apparently don’t have to tell if applying for job or state position
The outcome from this is that an ex-judge who has had a private sanction doesn’t have to inform anyone about it, only if they desire to, even when applying for a state job, such as Stick did in June of 2011, per staff at the Judicial Commission.
This means that Stick would be under no obligation to share the fact, if it occurred, with HHSC on his job application. And there is no mention of it or of the whole sour mess at Bee Cave per open records request information. So everyone is left in the dark and can only speculate about it.
In the public interest to know if it is true or not
It certainly would be incredible to somehow learn that Stick rose to the highest legal position in the state’s largest agency with a judicial sanction that he “persistently failed to follow the law and demonstrated a pattern of failure to maintain professional competence in the law” and he didn’t have to tell anyone about it.
Considering Stick’s tumultuous tenure at both HHSC and OIG, it is in the public interest to know if he did receive this sanction. If he didn’t, that would be a good thing for HHSC and Stick. If he did, another black eye.