Former Richardson Mayor Laura Jordan, and her developer husband Mark Jordan, were found guilty Friday, July 23 of bribery and tax evasion.
Prosecutors said the former mayor accepted cash, vacations, and home renovations from Jordan and had sex with him in exchange for her votes to change the city’s zoning on land fronting Central Expressway. She also voted to approve hundreds of apartments that Jordan wanted to build there.
Early in the trial, prosecutors told jurors that the Jordans “corruptly convinced the city of Richardson to approve a multi-million dollar real estate deal.” Prosecutors also said that they “used their adulterous affair and subsequent marriage to cover up corruption and get away with this.”
But the Jordans’ attorneys told the jury that the former mayor voted for the project because it was in the best interest of the city, and that a majority of council members approved the project too.
The conviction comes just weeks after the conviction of Ruel Hamilton on similar charges.
Laura Jordan
Laura Jordan was the Mayor of Richardson, Texas from 2013 to 2015. She had previously become the first woman elected to the post of Mayor Pro Tem in the City’s 57-year history as a home rule city.
Laura Jordan, then Laura Maczka, was initially elected to the Richardson City Council, Place 4 in May 2011, defeating Karl Voigtsberger by 74.97% to 25.03%. She is believed to be only the 6th woman elected to the city council in the last forty years.
In 2013, Maczka was elected mayor in the first direct election of the mayor since the city became a home rule city in 1956.