HOUSTON \u2013 New emails and text messages obtained by KPRC 2 News reveal conversations between Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and her staff with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo leaders leading up to and after her removal from the Megan Moroney concert.<\/p>\n
The relationship between the judge\u2019s office and rodeo officials appeared to have been cordial in the 235 pages of messages KPRC 2 News has reviewed covering communications over the last year. <\/p>\n
Dozens of pages are redacted, citing public official safety and security or government security system specs and operations. <\/p>\n
Judge Hidalgo\u2019s messages<\/p>\n
In one text last year, Judge Hidalgo reached out to Rodeo Houston Chairman of the Board Pat Mann Phillips to invite her on a trade mission to Paris. <\/p>\n
This year, on Sunday, March 8, after the rodeo had been going for about a week, Judge Hidalgo texted Mann Phillips: \u201cHi! Thinking of you. You\u2019re doing amazing!! Hope you are cherishing amidst the busy. No need to reply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mann Phillips doesn\u2019t appear to have replied.<\/p>\n
But then on Wednesday, March 11, after posting about getting kicked out of the Megan Moroney concert on Facebook, Judge Lina Hidalgo sent rodeo leaders a letter about the incident, in which she claimed she\u2019s never felt more \u201cunempowered as a woman\u201d and suggested race or gender may have been the reason behind her removal.<\/p>\n
The rodeo has said the reason for Hidalgo and her guests\u2019 removal was because they didn\u2019t have dirt-level chute tickets that night and the concert was sold out. <\/p>\n
Records show the email got sent to the rodeo leaders at 5:07 p.m. that day, and at 6:15 p.m., Hidalgo texted Mann Phillips directly. <\/p>\n
\u201cDear Pat Mann, can we please meet tomorrow at your convenience? With Mayor Sample and Licia Green? The father of late Sargeant Saravia may also come? We would like to share how yesterday made us feel,\u201d Judge Hidalgo wrote.<\/p>\n
The judge continued: \u201cAlso, I urgently need the recording from the chute where people watching the show on the dirt walk into the dirt. I need all the angles available. For during the time of the mutton busting all the way until the concert was over. I was manhandled and believe that is a crime.\u201d <\/p>\n
The following afternoon, on Thursday, March 12, Mann Phillips replied: \u201cPer your request, the video footage is being couriered to you today from Legends Global\/HCSCC (Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation).\u201d<\/p>\n
She added a second message: \u201cLina – Please be advised, the HLSR Executive Committee met earlier today and has voted to revoke your Ex-Officio Director status and its privileges. If you have questions about the video footage you received earlier today, please contact Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation. Formal letter to follow.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hidalgo didn\u2019t appear to acknowledge the status revocation, but asked Mann Phillips a logistical question about who is in charge of security.<\/p>\n
Later that Thursday, the judge came to visit NRG Stadium to review the surveillance footage herself, but during a press conference afterwards outside the stadium, said she couldn\u2019t find any relevant footage to support her claims of being shoved and threatened by rodeo security.<\/p>\n