Interesting tidbit. Ronnie Earle, the Travis County DA who is investigating the Republican misuse of corporate money to take over the Texas House of Representatives has subpoenaed material from the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC).
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 6, 2005.
"Three associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, have been indicted on felony campaign-finance-abuse charges. All have denied wrongdoing.
"Prosecutors are seeking the identity of a person who requested and then withdrew a request for an Ethics Commission opinion touching on how corporate money can be used in elections _ a question that's at the heart of the Earle investigation.
"The law allows corporate money to be spent only on administrative expenses, generally items such as rent, utilities and office supplies. Campaigns cannot use corporate money for direct political expenses. Officials say the Ethics Commission cited a confidentiality statute protecting the identity of those who request opinions and decided to fight the district attorney."
The TEC has balked and wants to go to court to quash the subpoena. No reasons have been given. [See Addendum - May 8]
Normally such legal work would be done by the Office of the Texas Attorney General, Gregg Abbot. Gregg Abbot, a Republican, disagreed with the TEC and has declined to fight the subpoena for them. This means that for the TEC to fight the subpoena they will have to hire outside legal talent to do the job out of their own budget.
I had not previously been aware of the TEC, so I got the following from their website. [Sorry for the wonkish level of detail, but If I didn't know much about them, I bet almost no one does.]
The Texas Ethics Commission is an Agency established by the Texas Constitution in 1991 and has the following duties:
Constitutional Duties
The Texas Constitution provides that the Texas Ethics Commission may recommend the salary of members of the Legislature, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, subject to approval by the voters at the subsequent general election for state and county officers. Also, the Commission must set the per diem of members of the Legislature and of the Lieutenant Governor. The Legislature is to determine the other powers and duties of the Commission.
Statutory Duties
Statutory duties of the Texas Ethics Commission are set out in Chapter 571 of the Government Code. The agency is responsible for administering and enforcing these laws: 1) Title 15, Election Code, concerning political contributions and expenditures, and political advertising; 2) Chapter 302, Government Code, concerning the election of the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives; 3) Chapter 303, Government Code, concerning the governor for a day and speaker's reunion day ceremonies; 4) Chapter 305, Government Code, concerning lobbyist registration, reports, and activities; 5) Chapter 572, Government Code, concerning personal financial disclosure of state officers and conduct of state officers and employees; 6) Chapter 2004 Government Code, concerning representation before state agencies; and 7) Chapter 159, Local Government Code, concerning judges of statutory county courts or statutory probate courts who elect to file a financial statement with the Commission.
[The items I underlined above are ones that the ones D.A. Ronnie Earle might look for.]
The TEC is run by an Executive Director, David A. Reisman who worked in the Governor's Office from 1998 to 2002, went to the Pentagon in 2002 and was appointed to the Executive Director position October 11, 2004 by the Republican Governor of Texas, Rick Perry.
There are eight Commissioners, four appointed by the Governor, two by the Lt. Governor, and two by the Speaker of the House. All of the appointing officers are Republicans with close ties to Tom DeLay.
[My comment]
At this point I find this to be a less than satisfying and incomplete story. The initial story was quite - may I say, "spare"? Really just enough to suggest that there is a further story there.
[Addendum - May 8]
Jay Root was kind enough to reply to my emailed question. The Texas Ethics Commission would not answer his questions at all, so what he reported was what he could get from other sources. There was good reason for his story to be "spare." Frankly, I am really glad he and the Star-Telegram published what they did.
The reluctance of the Texas Ethics Commission to explain their behavior leads me to want to speculate about what they are hiding.
However, the facts suggest that the Texas Ethics Commission is attempting to stonewall D.A. Ronnie Earle in his investigation. That is mostly just implied by their desire to quash the subpoena, then supported by Gregg Abbot's refusal to go to court for them. Without knowing exactly what is being subpoened and what the confidentiality law says, the interpretation can't be certain yet.
Unfortunately, no one seems to be talking further. So for the moment, this is it.
No comments:
Post a Comment