A Fort Worth, Texas, pastor is suing the far-right elected leader of Tarrant County government after he was removed from a public meeting for comments County Judge Tim O’Hare didn’t like.
O’Hare, a Southern Baptist deacon who was elected to the county’s top leadership post in 2022, has drawn national attention for his heavy-handed presiding at Commissioners Court. He was elected to the post over a more mainstream Republican thanks to support from then-former U.S. President Donald Trump.
O’Hare has brought to Tarrant County government the same scorched-earth tactics he used in Southlake, Texas, where he led Southlake Families PAC, a group “unapologetically rooted in Judeo-Christian values” and ultra-conservative causes. The group fought against Carroll Independent School District’s diversity plan to crack down on racism and anti-LGBTQ bullying.
Tim O’Hare ordering Pastor Ryon Price removed from the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting. (Screncap)
As mayor of nearby Farmers Branch, Texas, O’Hare advanced numerous ordinances targeting the city’s immigrant and Latino community. These included ordinances requiring proof of citizenship to rent housing, making English the city’s official language, and enabling local police to check immigration status of anyone and enforce immigration law — a task reserved for federal agents.
Those tactics have only grown more harsh as he leads Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth and some of its suburbs.
The Texas Tribune wrote of the county judge: “O’Hare’s election in Tarrant County, however, takes the battle from the schoolhouse to county government, offering a rare look at what happens when hard-liners win the majority and exert their influence over municipal affairs in a closely divided county.”
Mark Kirkland
“People are just finally getting fed up, and Judge O’Hare needs to understand and be put in his place that he’s not God. He’s not an overpowering ruler or dictator,” said attorney CJ Grisham, who represents Pastor Mark Kirkland of Greater St. Mark Ministries. “He’s the county judge who has a responsibility and a duty to respect and protect people’s First Amendment rights to speak.”
Kirkland sued O’Hare and the county Dec. 15, alleging O’Hare denied his right to freedom of speech and expression when Kirkland was silenced and removed from a public meeting earlier in December.
Maintaining “decorum” in Commissioners Court meetings is a passion of O’Hare, who has a record of expelling and banning others from the meetings when they attempt to hold him or the group accountable. O’Hare also was behind an effort to blatantly gerrymander county commissioners’ districts to ensure a complete Republican majority in the last Texas major metro area not controlled by Democrats.
Ryon Price
In July 2024, O’Hare banned Ryon Price, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, from appearing. in Commissioners Court for a full year. That penalty was given because the pastor completed a sentence in his presentation after O’Hare declared his allotted 3 minutes had expired. Price and his congregation are regulars at the court speaking on behalf of reforms at the Tarrant County Jail, where dozens of people have died while incarcerated.
Now Kirkland has upped the ante in the battle between O’Hare and religious leaders in the county. Kirkland seeks $250,000 in damages and a trial by jury. His attorney, Grisham, also is suing O’Hare and the court on similar grounds. Grisham was removed by O’Hare from a public meeting in January.
According to The Fort Worth Report: “In the last year, the county’s top elected official has removed attendees if they clap, swear or express criticism. Two speakers were removed from the courtroom and criminally charged in January. One of the speakers got his charges dismissed, while the other was convicted and sentenced to probation.”
On Dec. 9, Pastor Kirkland was next up to speak after O’Hare shushed the audience for clapping after another speaker addressed the court. When he approached the lectern, Kirkland shook his head and said, “Lord, I live in America where people cannot clap. That is insane to me.”
O’Hare then refused to let Kirkland speak and had him removed from the meeting.
The pastor’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, claims O’Hare’s actions and policies are unconstitutional and O’Hare enforces his rules “with an iron and selective fist against critics.”
O’Hare is a member and deacon at First Baptist Church of Grapevine, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
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Ultra-conservative county judge bans Baptist pastor from Commissioners Court meetings