Wednesday, January 11, 2012

More East Texas Corruption: Cherokee County Republican Chairman Steve Loony Arrested on Felony Charges


As a State Republican Executive Committeeman (SREC), I am elected to represent the Republicans in 16 counties in East Texas. Cherokee County is one of my counties. They are a great county with good Republicans. There is also a bunch of corruption, mostly stemming from good old boy democrat networks because Democrats have long been in power in East Texas. For the last year, there has been controversy swirling around about the County Republican Party Chairman. Loony was elected into his position when several Democrat officials switched Republican and supported Loony as the chairman. Don’t get me wrong, I want all the good conservative Democrats to wake up and switch Republican. I welcome that. Not everyone who switches are good people though and certainly some of them do it just so they can still get elected. There was not much I could do for Cherokee County though because the county chairman is an elected position, so I just told the people of Cherokee County that if they do not like their chairman then they need to just elect a new one. This kind of thing is best handled at the local level by just electing someone new if they do not like their current chairman. The SREC cannot really even do anything anyways because, like I said, we cannot remove an elected official from office. If things get bad enough then the SREC can pass a resolution opposing the actions of a county chairman and asking that chairman to step down, but we cannot remove anyone. We actually just recently passed a resolution disapproving of the inappropriate actions of the Upshur County Republican Chairman.

Cherokee County Chairman Steve Loony Arrested on Felony Charges

I received a call from a Republican in Cherokee County a couple of days ago. I was told that Steve Loony was arrested. Steve Loony is innocent until proven guilty, but this is still very disappointing and gives the good Republican Party of Texas a bad image. There are other candidates running for Cherokee County Republican Chairman and I would imagine that, after this arrest, Loony will probably not be elected again.

The following is the full story of Loony’s arrest from TylerPaper.com

Republican Party Chairman Facing Felony Charges
By TIM MONZINGO
Staff Writer

The chairman of the Cherokee County Republican Party is facing felony charges stemming from investigations into his work as a public servant.

Stephen Looney turned himself into the Cherokee County Jail Monday on charges of tampering with government records with the intent to defraud or harm, and theft of property greater than $500 but less than $1,500 by a public servant, according to documents from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Both are state jail felonies.

The charges have caused Republicans in the county to call for his resignation.

Danny Morris, the president of the Cherokee County Republican Club, said he would like to see Looney step down from his position as chairman before the end of his term.

“The things that he’s done has given a black eye to the party,” Morris said. “The longer he stays as chairman of the party I think the more damage we’re going to have in the eyes of the public.”
Morris said he did not want Looney to seek reelection in the next round of primaries.

Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth said an indictment was issued for Looney in December.

Beckworth said the charges came from an investigation conducted by the Health and Human Services Commission, for which Looney worked as a specialist with Adult Protective Services.

“I was contacted by an investigator for the Health and Human Services Commission, Office of the Inspector General,” Beckworth said. “(The investigator) met with me in June and later sent me a detailed report regarding this investigation.”

He said the charges were related to plumbing work done on property when Looney was employed by the Adult Protective Services.

Looney resigned from the department in Dec. 28, 2010.

Included in a Department of Health and Human Services memorandum, dated Dec. 20, 2010, was a recommendation for Looney’s dismissal based on alleged violations of 10 Health and Human Services human resource rules.

In that memorandum, which was not related to the charges on which he was indicted, it was alleged Looney rented a house he owned to an Adult Protective Services client and told the client to request the agency put a stove in the property. Several other allegations were made about improper conduct at the agency.

Beckworth said the two charges he was indicted on stemmed from separate incidents presented to him in the file complied by the Health and Human Services Commission.

“It was more than one incident, but the same course of conduct,” Beckworth said of the investigation into the incidents leading to the charges.

Looney was out of jail as of Tuesday afternoon after posting a $20,000 bond. He did not return phone calls for comment on the arrest or call for resignation before press time.

1 comment:

  1. David, there are few true "Democrats" or "Republicans" in Cherokee County, Texas. The corrupt county is run by the same family, the same network of people that drain it dry. They switch parties as effortless as taking off their white KKK sheets after church. The place is stinking corrupt and Looney's actions are only a teenie-tiny example of what goes there. County officials' own elderly relatives were set up in Looney's rental properties to milk the HHS while they actually lived in Tyler. All Looney wanted was a new stove for his rental, care of the taxpayer.
    Meanwhile, the County Judge (republican/little "r") and County Attorney (D) and sheriff (r) hack the emails and phone lines of the honest commissioners to run them out of office.
    See here at KETK: http://www.ketknbc.com/news/cherokee-county-controversyagain

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