In what his opponent called a "stunning abuse of official capacity," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples yesterday directed his agency's General Counsel to send threatening letters to a Tyler television station that have covered the ongoing saga surrounding non-compliant gas pumps in East Texas.
KETK-TV, Tyler's NBC affiliate, received a letter from TDA General Counsel Dolores Alvarado Hibbs yesterday complaining about coverage and demanding the station retract parts of its coverage relating to non-compliant gas pumps. The letters came after the station had difficulty reaching anyone at TDA for comment on the initial story after Staples' campaign failed to return calls from reporters.
"This is a stunning abuse of official capacity," said Hank Gilbert, the Texas Democratic Party's nominee for Agriculture Commissioner. "In an election year, to cover his own incompetence and wanton disregard for consumer protection, Todd Staples had a TDA attorney send threatening letters to the media," he continued. "This kind of Nixonian tactic is an outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars and slap in the face to the concept of a free and independent media. Todd Staples ought to be ashamed of himself," Gilbert said.
Gilbert also pointed out that Hibbs was one of a handful of TDA employees to receive lump-sum bonuses under Staples' leadership.
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