Ex-partner Tells Jury in Bribery Trial That Developer Romanced Richardson Mayor for Votes

SHERMAN -- Mark Jordan has portrayed himself as hopelessly love-struck over Richardson's mayor when he wined, dined and lavished her with gifts around the time she voted for a controversial rezoning request for his development. But testimony from a key government witness Tuesday and Wednesday during the couple's federal bribery trial painted a different picture of the developer. Sarah Catherine Norris, his former business partner and lover, told jurors the philandering Jordan is narcissistic, controlling and manipulative and never originally intended to marry the then-mayor, Laura Maczka. They eventually married. Norris testified that Mark Jordan told her the true reason for the trips, gifts and the sex he was having with Laura beginning in 2013: He was just using her to get what we wanted. According to Norris and transcripts of recorded conversations, Mark Jordan talked about his former attorney's novel bribery defense: Marry Laura. Or as Jordan put it, "I can't go to jail for loving her."   Continue reading...