“The judge has let down the nearly 5 million Harris County residents she serves by leaving court to go to a concert,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Tension ran high at the Harris County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday night, and it led to the county’s top leader storming out and later going to a concert.
Judge Lina Hidalgo ended up walking out of that meeting twice. She returned to her seat after walking out the first time, but didn’t return after leaving a second time.
When talks of exemptions from a hiring freeze arose, Hidalgo closed her laptop and stood up from her seat and left.
“I’m going to let you continue with the court. I don’t want to be a part of this nonsense,” she said.
Following Hidalgo’s exit, everyone took a break. After the break, Hidalgo returned to her seat, and Commissioners Court continued.
A short time later, when discussions about childcare programs came up, Hidalgo again stood up from her seat when there was no agreement.
“I don’t know what we’re doing here if we’re not standing up for children. Shame on you,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo then left the room while other commissioners watched a presentation on permitting fee recovery.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey spoke out about what happened.
“It seemed like Judge Hidalgo took everything personally. When there wasn’t a vote that went her way, and believe me, I’ve been on the wrong end of a lot of 4-1 votes in my tenure on Commissioners Court, you can’t take these things personally,” Ramsey said.
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia also released a statement on Hidalgo’s actions.
“The judge has let down the nearly 5 million Harris County residents she serves by leaving court to go to a concert … none of us left work early or chose a concert over our constituents. The behavior is disappointing to say the least,” Garcia’s statement said.
Hidalgo’s spokesperson said she left the meeting while it was still in progress and later went to the concert. It’s unclear what time the concert started and it’s also unclear who was performing.
Tuesday’s tension was the latest in clashes between Hidalgo and commissioners Lesley Briones, Adrian Garcia, and Tom Ransey over work on the county’s budget.
A couple of weeks ago, Hidalgo claimed Harris County was facing a $220 million deficit, while other commissioners believed the budget would be either balanced or about $50 million in the red.
Hidalgo said a proposal to balance the budget includes cuts to several programs, fewer resources for emergency response, longer wait times for court hearings and case processing, and cuts to domestic violence response.
A final vote on the budget is scheduled for Sept. 18.
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