Texas law allows former sex offenders to run for public office

5-20-2012 Texas:

Simply because one is a convicted sex-offender does not bar that person from serving in some Texas elected offices.

And that’s the way it should be, says Mary Sue Molnar, director of Texas Voices for Reason and Justice.

“Anybody who doesn’t have a conviction has a right just like anyone else to run for office,” Molnar told the Amarillo Globe-News in a Thursday story. The San Antonio-based nonprofit organization she works for advocates for reforming sex offender laws to specify violent and nonviolent offenders.

Take the case of former Skellytown Mayor Warren Andrew Mills.

The 73-year-old pleaded guilty in 2007 to two counts of indecency with a child, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records, reports the Globe-News’ Bobby Cervantes. The two girls involved were 8 and 16 years old at the time.

Mills stepped down about a month later.

But last week, Mills returned to public office. He won 51 of 146 votes to become a Skellytown city council member.

“We have people who have been charged with DWIs (and) they’re still running,” Molnar told the Globe-News. “Ultimately, it’s up to the voters.” ..Source.. by Mike Cronin