Collin County official denies bribery accusation from candidate for constable

A Republican candidate for Collin County constable has accused a county commissioner of asking him to commit bribery after the official suggested that he concede the race and consider working for his runoff opponent. Commissioner Darrell Hale says, however, that his suggestion was well-intentioned and denies any wrongdoing. Cris Treviņo finished second in Tuesday’s primary election for Precinct 1 constable, with 21% of the vote, and is set to face Matt Carpenter in May’s runoff. Carpenter won 46% of the primary vote. On Saturday, Treviņo posted a screenshot on Facebook of private messages he received from Hale, in which Hale says he is “trying to offer advice” to “make the best of a next to near impossible runoff.”

“Have you thought about talking to Matt Carpenter about coming on as deputy underneath him and conceding,” the messages say. “Get even more experience so when Matt moves on you would be lined up to be the next guy?” Hale added that he didn’t make an endorsement in Treviņo’s race and that the candidate he voted for was already out of the running. In his post, Treviņo called on Hale to resign, saying the messages were “nothing short of an intimidation tactic.” “If I win this election, we’re not going to be able to work together,” Treviņo told The Dallas Morning News. “There’s no chance that we’re going to be able to do anything for the community or Precinct 1 with him in that seat.” Treviņo said he is considering filing an ethics complaint about the messages. Although the Facebook post said Hale’s messages were possibly illegal, it was unclear that the messages had broken any law. Hale did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he replied to Treviņo’s post, saying that he was sorry his message was taken “so horribly wrong.” In a comment, Hale said Treviņo was “qualified to be on the ballot but not qualified for the job.” “I get it now that I probably offended you greatly by suggesting that you concede and talk to an opponent about working for him,” Hale wrote. “However, I haven’t spoken to any of the candidates at length about the race or expectations.”