Two senior school administrators in Denton County have been indicted for using a school email platform in an alleged electioneering scheme.
The indictments of Denton ISD Alexander Elementary principal Lindsay Luján and her husband Jesus Luján, the principal of Borman Elementary, stem from emails they allegedly sent out in February ahead of the March primary elections. The emails detailed a campaign to organize school staff to vote against candidates who favor school choice, as reported by The Dallas Express.
According to Denton County public records, both Lindsay and Jesus Luján were indicted on Tuesday for the same charge of “unlawful use of internal mail system for political advertising” under the state’s Election Code, a class A misdemeanor. In Texas, a Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to $4,000 in fines and a year in jail.
The summons for Jesus Luján was issued on Tuesday and for Lindsay Luján on Wednesday, with the former scheduled to be arraigned on June 4 and the latter on May 13.
Though the indictment is light on details, the offense dates match the dates of the emails that the couple sent out through their school district accounts.
The indictments appear to comport with the requirements of Section 273.001 of the Texas Election Code that triggers a criminal investigation if two or more registered voters in the jurisdiction present affidavits with electioneering allegations. That is exactly what was presented to the Denton County DA by the Liberty Justice Center (LJC) in a letter dated February 27.
At the end of last month, LJC sent a letter and two supporting affidavits laying out electioneering allegations against the superintendent of the Huffman ISD, Benny Soileau.
“In addition to Denton, last week we submitted a letter with affidavits to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office demanding an investigation into conduct by the Superintendent of the Huffman ISD,” said Dean McGee, LJC’s educational freedom attorney. “The Harris County DA’s office confirmed that the complaints had been referred to the Chief Prosecutor of the Public Corruption division.”
The Harris County DA’s office said it is “looking into the matter,” McGee told DX.
John Donnelly, spokesperson for the Harris County DA’s Office, told DX they don’t comment on investigations “out of fairness to all parties involved.”
When asked whether LJC plans to send such letters to other DAs overseeing districts where school officials may have engaged in illegal electioneering, McGee said none of the other known instances currently meet the “two affidavit” criteria.
“Aside from those [two] districts, we are unaware of voters in other districts meeting the affidavit threshold required to mandate an investigation,” McGee stated. “That said, Liberty Justice Center is willing to work with voters in other districts who have a basis to believe there was a criminal violation of the election code.”
