Former Senator Drew Nixon Diversifies

Well, well, well. It appears that former State Senator Drew Nixon has branched out and diversified. Now, instead of just keeping company with hookers, he’s now trying his hand and destroying the electoral process:

Ten years after serving jail time for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer, former state Sen. Drew Nixon faces new charges of official oppression in connection with an East Texas election, the Texas Attorney General’s office said.

A grand jury in Panola County this week indicted Nixon, 47, on two counts of using his public office with an East Texas fresh water supply district to deprive two potential candidates the right to run last year for a seat on the board.

“Texas will not tolerate illegal acts that undermine the integrity of the electoral process,” said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office is prosecuting the case. “Election officials have a duty to serve the public’s interest, not their own.”

Nixon, who was released on $500 personal recognizance bond, hours after he surrendered to authorities in his hometown of Carthage, said he did nothing wrong.

The two-count indictment, which was returned Monday and unsealed Thursday, alleges that Nixon abused his position as a self-appointed elections administrator with the Panola County Fresh Water Supply District No. 1 by first refusing to accept the ballot applications from two would-be candidates, and later intentionally misleading them into thinking they were ineligible to run for seats on the board.

“It became an uncontested election,” said Tom Kelly, a spokesman with the attorney general’s office. “It enabled the incumbents to retain their seats.”

The incumbents are not under investigation, Kelly said.

Nixon worked as an accountant for the water district. Kelly said prosecutors would attempt to prove that his purported self-appointment as elections administrator posed a conflict with his paid position.

Nixon may be best remembered for soliciting sex in February 1997 from an undercover Austin policewoman — while illegally carrying a firearm. He was a Republican state senator at the time. He served 60 days of a six-month jail sentence, all the while defying calls to resign from office. He chose not to run for re-election in 2000.

Official oppression is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a maximum $4,000 fine.

Wait, it has been ten years since Nixon was caught trying to buy sex? Woah. I am really, really, really getting old.

One thing it’s also important to note on Official Oppression cases (having covered a few of those back when I was a print journalist). They can be very, very, very hard to prove to a jury’s satisfaction even if you are the most brilliant of prosecutors. I’m by no means defending Nixon (far from it), but stating what’s probably “the obvious” to any criminal defense attorney who has read about Nixon’s current plight.

Most often, you see charges of official oppression levied in cases where someone in law enforcement has had sex with an inmate, organized inmate “boxing” matches, etc. In those cases, many of the witnesses are often unreliable because of their positions. While that may not be the case with Nixon’s case, it will be interesting to see how prosecutors end up trying to make the case before a jury in such a way that the jury clearly understands what violations occurred.