Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City won re-election while he is cooling his heels in prison. Reynolds was convicted of using people to recruit clients who were injured in car wrecks. That is a violation of the Ambulance Chaser Law.
Unless he gets an early release, he will spend all of 2019 in prison and will not be able to serve the people of his district. Come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea. Reynolds had the advantage of running unopposed. Does Texas have a law that you must live in the district you serve? And if they do, is the prison located inside his district. Just wondering.
From KXAN
A re-election celebration is underway in Pod 2 of the Montgomery County Jail after inmate number 232573 claimed victory in Texas House District 27. That inmate is known as Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, to the people on the outside.
Reynolds was unopposed in the race for District 27 and the latest vote totals show Reynolds garnered 47,305 votes in Tuesday’s election.
Reynolds was booked into the county jail on Sept. 7. He’s serving a year-long sentence after a 2015 conviction on five misdemeanor counts of using a middleman to chase ambulances in order to solicit clients for Reynolds’ law firm.
After the 2015 conviction, a county judge handed down the jail sentence to the sitting lawmaker, but Reynolds spent the last three years appealing the conviction. Reynolds’ law license was suspended on May 2, 2016.
Since the convictions were misdemeanors, Reynolds will not have to resign his elected office. Reynolds will likely be sitting in a jail cell when the legislature reconvenes in January 2019.
I see nothing wrong with this. In fact, I would encourage all Democrats run for office from prison. It will save a lot of time down the road.