Two in-house attorneys with Texas' funeral oversight agency have told 四虎影院 they were fired last week after they publicly supported the agency's ousted former executive director and his allegations of unethical behavior by commission leadership.
Staff attorneys Christopher Burnett and Sarah Sanders say they and deputy director Laura Rhinehart, who were all hired by former executive director Scott Bingaman, were fired July 21 at the direction of TFSC Presiding Officer Kristin Tips. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Tips last year. She is the president and funeral director of Mission Park Funeral Chapels, Cemeteries, and Crematories in San Antonio.
鈥淥ur crime? We also spoke out against the corruption, entitled self-dealing, and astronomical incompetence of the current commission, just like Bingaman," Burnett wrote in a letter to 四虎影院.
四虎影院 reached out to Tips for comment last week and had not received a response Monday. Interim Executive Director Maria Haynes declined to comment. 四虎影院 also sent written questions on Friday to Steven Ogle, an assistant attorney general representing the commission in court, and had not received a response Monday.
Burnett and Sanders have , who before he was fired alleged Tips used her public position to lobby for bills during this year鈥檚 legislative session that would serve her own personal interests within the funeral industry.
Those fired also have blamed current and former commissioners for frequent employee turnover and licensing backlogs. Sanders also accused Tips of misinterpreting state law to control the commission's legal department.
The firings are the latest development in an between some staffers and TFSC鈥檚 governing board, which, along with the agency鈥檚 investigation into a North Texas mosque鈥檚 funeral practices, has drawn scrutiny for the state鈥檚 funeral authority.
Bingaman鈥檚 accusations
Bingaman had 13 years of experience in a variety of state government roles before joining TFSC, .
In a letter to commissioners June 17, Bingaman said Tips told him to write to Abbott鈥檚 office in January to call for 鈥渟elf-serving鈥� and 鈥渕isleading鈥� changes to state law as part of Abbott鈥檚 Small Business Freedom Initiative.
This included a call for the legislators to overturn a Texas Supreme Court decision that allows plaintiffs to recover mental anguish damages in lawsuits against funeral homes. Bingaman said this would benefit Tips, who鈥檚 been sued along with her husband after accusations that their business of a San Antonio mother with another woman and
Bingaman also alleged Tips testified in favor of capping damages in these cases in front of the Legislature twice and tried to insert that measure into an unrelated bill.
And Bingaman requested that TFSC have rulemaking authority over and that the Legislature that requires companies to ask a city or county for permission to establish or use a cemetery within their boundaries.
All this, Bingaman said, would help Tips personally.
鈥淭his letter, submitted to Governor Abbott under my signature, supported Tips鈥檚 own personal interests using agency resources to do so,鈥� Bingaman wrote. 鈥淭his is a serious conflict of interest and a breach of public trust.鈥�
But the 鈥渞ot鈥� within the commission isn鈥檛 limited to Tips, Bingaman said. He cited a letter from former executive director James White, who raised red flags about the agency allegedly discriminating against veterans and resisting change.
Abbott鈥檚 office did not respond to 四虎影院鈥檚 requests for comment. Bingaman's attorneys did not make him available for an interview.
Bingaman鈥檚 firing
After his nine months with the agency, commissioners at their June 18 meeting. He then sued the commission earlier this month, claiming commissioners failed to report Tips鈥� illegal lobbying and commissioners violated the Texas Whistleblower Act by firing him after he reported the commission鈥檚 actions to the governor.
Bingaman also alleged commissioners violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by discussing his termination in closed executive session after he requested in writing that the discussion happen in an open meeting. Commissioners used last week鈥檚 meeting to talk openly about why they chose to fire Bingaman.
Eric Opiela, an attorney and commission member, said he felt Bingaman was dishonest in their conversations about who to hire as TFSC's in-house attorney. Under state law, the Texas Attorney General鈥檚 Office to represent the commission in legal matters.
Bingaman wanted to fire that OAG representative and said Governor Greg Abbott鈥檚 office was OK with that decision, Opiela said. But the commissioner said he worried TFSC would be running afoul of state law with that move, so he independently checked with Abbott鈥檚 office on how they felt and alleged Bingaman had lied.
鈥淚 have concerns with lack of candor with Mr. Bingaman,鈥� Opiela said. 鈥淚'll just say, I feel gaslit.鈥�
However, in an interview with 四虎影院, Sanders said the law doesn鈥檛 prevent TFSC from appointing its own general counsel.
Sanders alleges Tips wants to keep Assistant Attorney General Helen Kelley as the commission鈥檚 head attorney to further control the agency. Bingaman hired Burnett as the commission鈥檚 in-house counsel, and Sanders said neither Tips nor Kelley would stand for it.
鈥淥piela used the word 'gaslight,'鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淲ell, I feel gaslit by Mrs. Tips. We all do. And I believe unfortunately that the rest of the commissioners are also victims of Mrs. Tips because they appear to have been severely misled.鈥�
Opiela also said he received a folder full of letters in May from attorneys and other people interested in suing TFSC 鈥渙ver the actions that were taken in March,鈥� and Opiela was concerned that Bingaman鈥檚 actions exposed TFSC to liability over its administrative procedures.
Opiela didn鈥檛 specify what those actions were, but in March, Bingaman signed off on a cease-and-desist letter, sent to the East Plano Islamic Center accusing the mosque of operating as a funeral home without a license and ordering EPIC to stop. EPIC sued TFSC over that letter earlier this month, and TFSC soon issued another letter allowing EPIC to continue performing funeral and burial rites for its congregants.
Sanders, who was the staff attorney overseeing that case, said she could not comment on the specifics as it鈥檚 an ongoing investigation and she doesn鈥檛 want to violate attorney-client privilege. Opiela declined to comment.
Commissioners also said Bingaman was a poor leader and didn't communicate well with the board. They cited significant delays in licensing crematories and Bingaman鈥檚 letter to commission members blaming failures within the agency on them 鈥� and especially Tips 鈥� as examples.
When commissioners asked Bingaman or a representative for him to indicate whether they were in attendance during the meeting, no one spoke up.
Targeted?
Sanders said she was approved to take vacation time on July 21. Then, she said, TFSC Interim Executive Director Maria Haynes emailed her that that vacation time was never approved and threatened Sanders with discipline if she didn鈥檛 come in for work.
So, Sanders said she went to work. She said she and other staffers were waiting for the board meeting to start. But staffers 鈥� many of whom support Bingaman 鈥� weren鈥檛 allowed in the meeting, Sanders said.
After the meeting ended, Sanders said Haynes handed her, Burnett and deputy director Rhinehart termination letters and state troopers walked them out of the building. Haynes read staffers a letter instructing them not to speak to the media, Sanders said, and she believes that note 鈥� along with the email threatening discipline 鈥� was written by Tips.
鈥淚 was the last one escorted out because I was going around hugging my colleagues goodbye,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥�'Cause, you know, I'm truly friends with the whole team, and it was really heartbreaking.鈥�
Sanders said Tips might be orchestrating regulatory capture. That's when a regulatory agency becomes dominated by the businesses it regulates.
"Does Mrs. Tips not want the agency to function?" Sanders said. "Does that benefit her? Because she gets sued a lot for negligence at her funeral homes, but you don't see a lot of discipline on her. And I wonder if we had a more functional legal team, if we had a more functional agency, would that continue?"
Burnett, he used much of his own statement on July 21 to criticize commissioners for how they handled the meeting. He said commissioners were blaming Bingaman for their own shortcomings.
鈥淭he relentless employee turnover and firings, bad morale, incompetent inspections, and inept or non-existent implementation of legislation lies not with Mr. Bingaman,鈥� Burnett wrote.
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X .
四虎影院 is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider . Thank you.
