Mario X. Perez went from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the lows.
He was an associate judge in the small Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill and also the state chairman of Common Cause, a liberal activist group that promotes campaign finance reform, among other causes.
In 2012, he was indicted on six felony counts of tampering with government records — in this case, campaign finance reports for an Arlington school board candidate. The case never went to trial. Last month, Perez signed an agreement to end the case with a small civil penalty. No criminal charges.
“He did nothing wrong,” says Perez’s lawyer, Greg Westfall of Arlington. “This was a witch hunt to destroy Mario.”
