Wilmer sex offender drops out of mayoral race

by Brian Allen of of Best Southwest Citizen

Brian Sliter

Brian Sliter, the Wilmer mayoral candidate who earned international attention because of his sex offender status, has withdrawn his name from the May 10 election ballot. He released this statement last night:

“I’ve been convinced by the probation department to drop out of the race for mayor in the best interests of all concerned,” he said. “My biggest concern is that my motivation for running and putting myself through this ordeal will go unnoticed.

At this point, I feel I’ve done all I can for the community in focusing international attention on the problems in Wilmer. One of my goals was to raise the level of awareness within and beyond the community to recognize the scandalous behavior and corruption in the city government.

I am concerned that I may have failed the community because no Federal, State or local agencies have responded to our plea for investigations. Whether it is the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, FBI or the County authorities - repeated attempts to engage them have fallen on deaf ears.”

Editor’s Take: This was without question the best move Sliter could make. His candidacy brought the town all the wrong kind of attention. He seemed to have a good amount of local support, though, including an endorsement from a former mayor. The journalist in me would have loved to see this story play out.

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Scott Doyle, says:

Doyle's Take: Sorry, but I can't get past the feeling his motivation was for personal gain and little else. Potential reduction of probation, attention whoring, whatever. Probably did the community more harm than good with international press of a sex offender running for public office, so if that truly was his motivation he's doing it wrong.