Four sheriff deputies carried a 73-year-old former lawmaker out of a county meeting by his arms and legs.
Former Democratic state Rep. Lon Burnam got himself arrested at a Tarrant County Commissioners Court session after refusing to surrender a microphone and ignoring orders from Republican County Judge Tim O'Hare, according to reports. The whole blowup was over a proposal to slash nearly half of the county's polling locations ahead of the midterm elections.
Burnam sat in a jail cell until after midnight, then came out swinging. "I'm 73 years old and I'm tired, but the show must go on," the veteran politician told the Texas Tribune the following day. No rest for the politically restless, apparently.
He got booked on a charge of disrupting a meeting or procession, a Class B misdemeanor that could land someone behind bars for up to 180 days, cost them as much as $2,000, or both. A spokesperson for the Tarrant County DA confirmed that no case had been forwarded to their office yet. Meanwhile, the sheriff's department issued its own statement saying charges would be officially filed within five days.
But here's where it gets really spicy. Burnam told the Texas Tribune he's already in the "very early stages" of talking to lawyers about potentially taking O'Hare to court over the whole arrest. O'Hare's office was contacted for their side of things and gave absolutely nothing back. Total radio silence.
So what exactly sparked this political fireworks show? The commissioners had been debating the polling site cuts for hours. Supporters of the plan said it was all about saving taxpayer dollars. Democrats called it something far uglier. Commissioner Alisa Simons, who is actually running against O'Hare this November, flat out declared it was the Republican Party's strategy to protect their grip on power.
The tension was already sky high. The county had recently redrawn its district maps in ways that critics say hurt Black and Latino representation. And Democrat Taylor Rehmet had just pulled off a jaw-dropping special election upset to grab a Texas Senate seat, proving the political ground was shifting.
Dozens of residents packed the meeting, calling the polling closures a voter suppression scheme and ripping the lack of transparency. Burnam, who served that area in the Texas House from 1997 to 2015, was right there with them. He invoked Lyndon Johnson's legacy and the Voting Rights Act, saying this was something he simply had to stand up against.
Then came the moment that turned a heated public comment into a viral political spectacle. Burnam grabbed the microphone in solidarity with a previous speaker who'd been kicked out for the same move. O'Hare ordered him to put it down. Burnam kept right on talking. O'Hare called for recess and asked that Burnam be removed. When the former lawmaker refused to budge, four deputies physically lifted him off the floor and carried him out of the room.
Burnam says he plans to return to a future meeting to address conditions inside the county jail. This man is clearly not done making noise.
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