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Former Arts Council executive director P. David Romei testified Tuesday that he was being prosecuted for attempting to get his successor fired and because of work he did for the Texas A&M Health Science Center.
He faces felony charges of obtaining $15,460 worth of reimbursements from the council for money that he never spent on agency business, as well as for work he didn’t complete, according to prosecutors. He also is accused of using Arts Council credit cards to pay for more than $10,000 in plane tickets and other travel costs for himself and family members.
In addition, he faces misapplication of fiduciary funds charges for four political donations worth $1,750 that he made with Arts Council money, prosecutors said. The Arts Council is a nonprofit corporation and its money can’t be legally used for political contributions.
He pleaded not guilty and during testimony Monday and Tuesday dismissed the allegations as misunderstandings due to poor bookkeeping and unintentional mistakes on his part.
Testimony from Romei on Tuesday, while still being questioned by his defense team, delved into why he said he believes he’s being prosecuted. He has described the criminal investigation as a witch-hunt stemming from his actions in August 2006. He said that’s when he learned of several embarrassing pictures of current Arts Council of Brazos Valley executive director Padraic Fisher.
Two months later, he began showing those pictures to Arts Council officials and local government leaders, he said
He met with Ron Silvia, who was mayor at the time, and Ben White, the current mayor who was mayor pro-tem at the time, at the end of October, he said, but did not explain in court what happened.
Becky Russell, immediate past president of the Arts Council and current board member, testified Monday morning that she met with Silvia and White after they received the pictures.
“They said that they may be unable to continue funding the Arts Council of Brazos Valley because they had seen pictures of Padraic Fisher,” she said.
Romei also went to the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office with the pictures, he said.
District Attorney Bill Turner has not commented publicly on the pictures, but, in court documents, prosecutors have called Romei’s actions with the pictures a “character assassination.” A pretrial filing described Romei’s allegations against Fisher as “shocking.”
The 50-year-old also said that Arts Council president-elect Mitch Morehead, who also is a member of the Bryan Business Council, attempted to have Romei prosecuted after the Health Science Center, where Romei was employed at the time of his indictment, decided not to build a new development on the current Bryan golf course.
The city of Bryan originally pushed to have the development at the golf course, but Romei, who served as the Health Science Center’s vice president of external affairs and development, testified that he opposed the site. Texas A&M University System regents eventually decided to build near the Traditions Golf Course in Bryan.
Romei said that Morehead was irked by the university’s decision.
“He went to Mr. Turner to get me indicted,” he said.
He began his testimony Monday afternoon and his direct questioning by his defense lawyer reached six hours when the court took a break for lunch.
Romei is expected to return to the stand at 1:15 p.m. His lawyer, Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, said he expected to question Romei for another 30 minutes. Turner then will have an opportunity to cross-examine Romei.
