The chair of the Kerr County Republican Party is accused of removing campaign signs for a Kerr County Commissioners Court candidate.
Buzzie Hughes, the husband of Kerr County Commissioners Court candidate Brenda Hughes, said that on April 27 he caught Helen Herd and an unidentified volunteer taking down his wife’s signs from a strip mall property located in front of the county Republican Party headquarters.
The Hughes family said they have filed a police report in connection with the incident, and Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring has called on Herd to resign. Sgt. Jonathan Lamb with the Kerrville Police Department told MySA that the agency responded to a call regarding campaign signs being removed without permission on April 27, but a police report was not filed at that time.
Buzzie Hughes, owner of longtime barbecue restaurant Buzzie’s BBQ, also accused Brenda Hughes’ opponent in the Place 1 race, Clayson “Clay” Lambert, of watching Herd remove the signs from inside party headquarters. Hughes said he took several photos of Herd, including some showing her covering her face with a pillow.
Brenda Hughes, who is an outgoing councilwoman for the city of Kerrville, tells MySA that more than 50 of her signs have been removed, stolen or destroyed during the election, even though she was given permission to place her signs outside on the mall property.
Buzzie Herd said he asked why the post was being removed and alleged that she responded, “Because Brenda is a Democrat.” Herd nor the Kerr County Republican office have responded to request for comment.
“Helen Herd knows I’m not a Democrat; my voting record is public, and I carry it around with me. She just hopes people take her word for it so she’s not held accountable for using her position to divide the party,” Brenda Hughes tells MySA.
Brenda Hughes said she plans on filing a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission. She added that she will decide after the May 26 election on whether to pursue charges.
“I view it as desperate acts by unethical, desperate opponents,” Hughes said.
Lambert told MySA that, though he was present at the time of the interaction — “wrong place, wrong time,” he says — he was not involved in the removal of the sign. He arrived at that office that day to drop off campaign flyers.
“I was in the back office when I heard all this commotion,” he said, adding that he did not want to be a part of the heated confrontation happening out front.
Lambert said he believes there was a miscommunication between the property manager and the property owner, who had given Hughes permission to display her signs in front of the GOP headquarters.
“I heard them talking about it, and I thought, ‘Oh, this really isn’t good. Because, in my mind, only the actual candidate or the property owner should pull them up,” he said about the signs.