Hawaii officials are investigating Harris County Department of Education trustee Eric Dick for illegally soliciting legal clients after the wildfires in Maui last year that killed at least 100 people, according to news reports.

Meanwhile, the Houston insurance lawyer running for reelection on the education board also owes $40,000 in campaign ethics fines racked up during unsuccessful bids for other local offices.

Dick said he will cooperate fully with Hawaii authorities over what he characterized as a misunderstanding. 

"This incident was due to a misinterpretation of requirements, and we have taken steps to ensure future clarity," said Dick, who has served on the HCDE board for five years. Both he and his wife are running for seats in the March 5 Republican primary.

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The Hawaii Office of Disciplinary Counsel launched an investigation into attorneys illegally attempting to practice law in Maui with out-of-state licenses after the wildfires. Dick reportedly sent flyers reading “you may be entitled to money.” The back of the flyer included a contract and instructions to return it to Dick’s law firm, HawaiiNewsNow reported.

"Unfortunately, fast-moving disasters tempt opportunistic actors to prey on people when they are most vulnerable, so watch out for and report potential legal fraud," according to a news release from the ODC. "You may be contacted by attorneys who want to represent you; but please make sure that any lawyer you hire is a qualified Hawaii licensed attorney."

The wildfires tore through the island in August, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 homes and businesses. Officials estimate the wildfires caused upwards of $6 billion in property damage.

Hawaii Office of Disciplinary Counsel Chief Disciplinary Counsel Bradley Tamm said that he could not confirm or deny any pending investigations due to confidentiality.

Dick, who is running unopposed, has also yet to pay $40,000 in campaign ethics fines issued by the Texas Ethics Commission during his unsuccessful bids for an at-large seat on Houston’s City Council in 2019 and for Harris County treasurer in 2022. He had served on the HCDE board until December 2022 and then was appointed to the board again in January 2023 after his unsuccessful campaign for treasurer. 

Dick said he is challenging the fines, which he called “indicative of a systemic issue within the TEC.” More than $1.5 million in fines are due to the TEC and have been sent to the Attorney General for collection, according to state records.

"The widespread non-enforcement of these fines is symptomatic of a failure in TEC's ethical conduct," he said, adding that he would like to “contribute to a broader effort to ensure fairness and transparency in our political system" by collaborating with oversight groups to try for an independent audit and policy reform.

When Dick ran for City Council in 2019, the commission found that he paid for mailers from the Harris County Black Democratic News, featuring photos of prominent Black politicians on the front, including former President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, state Sen. Borris Miles, and Mayor Sylvester Turner. The back of the mailers included endorsements of candidates, including Dick. 

Miles and Thomas denounced the mailers at the time, saying they had no affiliation with the group. The mailers also lacked a disclosure saying who paid for them, as required by state law.

Dick wrote a blog post on his law firm’s website in October 2022 openly musing, “Is the Texas Ethics Commission racist?” In the post, he wrote that he represented the leader of the Harris County Black Democratic News, Phillip Bryant, as an attorney, thereby was acting on behalf of his client. Dick claimed the TEC ignored evidence from Bryant due to his race.

But the commission stated that they found “no presented evidence that demonstrates the consent from Phillip Bryant, for the respondent to act on his behalf, or on behalf of HCDN/HCBDN in this instance.”

The commission also fined Bryant $6,000 for his role in the mailer creation. Bryant was allegedly spending money on behalf of the Harris County Black Democratic News without a campaign treasurer, a violation of Texas Election Code. According to the sworn complaint, Bryant did not appear at the hearing.

During Dick’s run for Harris County treasurer, he failed to report two $25,000 payments to the Conservative Republicans of Texas and the Conservative Republicans of Harris County. There was also a discrepancy of over $100,000 in his pre-election filings, according to the TEC’s signed resolution from Sept. 29. 

The TEC found Dick acted “in bad faith” after not responding to its complaint letter for eight months. According to the resolution, the additional $10,000 fine took into account that Dick had not paid his $30,000 fine, so the TEC sought to “deter future violations” with the additional fine.

Harris County resident and retired NASA software engineer John Cobarruvias initially filed the complaints against Dick after the 2019 and 2022 violations. He has filed over 60 ethics complaints in the last 15 or so years, he said. Cobarruvias filed complaints against Dick because he felt the candidate was trying to "deceive voters by conspiring to hide the true source of the mailers," he wrote in an email. "It was just so dishonest. I never expected a historic fine of $30,000."

Cobarruvias said he is frustrated that fines adding up for a HCDE board member has not resulted in any action from the board, he said, creating larger implications for ethical behavior of elected and appointed officials in the county. 

"What is the HCDE board telling our kids by ignoring this obvious unethical and illegal behavior?” he wrote. "They are willing to tolerate lying to the ethics commission, refusing to follow the law, and refusing to pay the fines.”

Despite the fines, the TEC can't prevent Dick from being on the ballot or from sitting in a board seat, said Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston. The way the TEC is set up, it doesn't have the "teeth" to take action in that way.

"None of these violations are major transgressions. That's why they're punished by fines, but at the same time, we can ask for and should demand better accountability in government. That's what these ethics laws are put into place for," Rottinghaus said. 

The Harris County Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment on whether action will be taken to address Dick's ethics violations.

The county department of education is a public entity that educates about 30,000 students at alternative campuses, works with area public school districts and aims to “meet the needs of uniquely challenged learners and school staff.”

The elected Board of Trustees is the primary decision-making body of the HCDE, in partnership with the county superintendent. The board generally votes on issues such as funding, tax rates, new construction projects and educational programming.

Dick’s wife, Danielle, is also running for a seat on the board in the Republican primary, after losing a campaign for an HCDE board seat in 2022 to Andrea Duhon, current president of the board. Dick is a client services and marketing manager for the Dick Law Firm and also founded the nonprofit Hope for Health Houston which aims to "promote healthcare usage among the poor and underprivileged." 

When asked about the couple's candidacy, Dick said they decided to run together because of their passion for bettering the community.

“With our combined experiences and perspectives, we aim to enhance the educational landscape of Harris County further,” Dick wrote.

There are no laws against spouses running for two seats on the same board, but Rottinghaus said it's rare to see that in local government. Sometimes siblings or cousins serve together in the state Legislature, but given the size of that governing body, there aren't as often close votes, which he said could be an ethical concern with spouses on a seven-person board.  

"It could be seen to be a potential ethical challenge if there are some close votes on the board, and where there's real debate about kind of what to do," he said. He described a potential complication as a kind of "personal lobbying arrangement," if the spouses frequently agree on motions.

But Rottinghaus said that could easily be amended with some precautions, like creating internal rules on how to handle potential ethical conflicts if both husband and wife are elected to the board. 

Dick will be running unopposed for HCDE board Place 4, but his wife will be running against the incumbent Richard Cantu for HCDE board place 3. Cantu is running to retain his seat on the board after losing a 2023 bid for Houston’s City Council at-large seat against new City Council member, Twila Carter.