Texas: Bastrop Mayor facing petitions over alleged conflict of interest appointments; Petitioners are also trying to make recalls easier

Mayor Ken Kesselus is facing petitions over alleged ethics claims and a failure to fight for water rights led by a Austin-area activist's PAC.

The claims are focused on an appointee (a former City Council member) who recommended selling groundwater to Austin at a EDC meeting, though he didn't mention his role as a consultant for a company that does that. There are also two potential conflict of interest appointments of his employer or his wife to city agencies -- the city economic development corporation and the city construction and standards commission. There's also a complaint about an executive session being called on the city manager's resignation and arguing with city employees. There were three stories in papers and three different focuses of the recall, so this one may get complicated.

Petitioners need signatures of 25% registered voters to get on the ballot (somewhere on the other of 1241).

In addition to the recall, the petitioners are also trying to drop the signature requirement for a recall from 25% to 10%.