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Two Ethics Developments in Texas
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Robert Wechsler
There are two interesting developments going on in Texas right now, and
two bills that will be heard in committee today.
One involves a request to the state legislature by El Paso County to allow local governments to give their ethics commissions teeth (they now can only censure).
According to an article on the KVIA-TV website, there have been ten guilty pleas following a recent public corruption investigation. The county wants accountability. It wants its ethics commission (and others in the state, if they choose) to have subpoena power, to be able to fine up to $4,000, and to offer whistleblower protection.
Local state representative Marisa Marquez has authored House Bill 2301 to allow El Paso County's ethics commission to have teeth. The bill is to have its first public hearing today, before the County Affairs committee.
Sadly, Marquez made her bill applicable only to counties with populations over 650,000 on an international border, by which I presume she means Mexico, not New Mexico. That limits the effect of a purely voluntary reform. Clearly, other counties' officials did not want to open up a Pandora's box that might affect them personally.
It can only be hoped that this bill goes through quickly, and serves as an inspiration for people in other counties to push for the same deal.
The other development in Texas involves a January report called Don't Mess with Ethics, which provides detailed information about ethics violations by Texas legislators, which have not been pursued by the state ethics commission. It also details several possible solutions to the problem of lack of enforcement, especially with respect to the misuse of campaign funds.
The most interesting thing about the report is that it is unsigned, and I could find nothing on the internet identifying its authors. "Don't Mess with Ethics" is the name of a plan pushed by a past gubernatorial candidate, Chris Bell. The name is a clever play on the popular "Don't Mess with Texas" slogan.
The other interesting thing about the report is that, despite its anonymity, the bill seems to have caused a lot of ethics reform action in the state legislature. Today, according to the Bay Area Houston blogspot, which is focused on this issue (and behind the report?), a bill will be heard by the Elections committee that would prevent legislators from paying fines out of their campaign funds, a practice the ethics commission has said is okay.
The principal bill, which includes the above change, has been introduced by Rep. Senfronia Thompson. This bill has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing. Links to this and other bills can be found on the Bay Area Houston blogspot.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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One involves a request to the state legislature by El Paso County to allow local governments to give their ethics commissions teeth (they now can only censure).
According to an article on the KVIA-TV website, there have been ten guilty pleas following a recent public corruption investigation. The county wants accountability. It wants its ethics commission (and others in the state, if they choose) to have subpoena power, to be able to fine up to $4,000, and to offer whistleblower protection.
Local state representative Marisa Marquez has authored House Bill 2301 to allow El Paso County's ethics commission to have teeth. The bill is to have its first public hearing today, before the County Affairs committee.
Sadly, Marquez made her bill applicable only to counties with populations over 650,000 on an international border, by which I presume she means Mexico, not New Mexico. That limits the effect of a purely voluntary reform. Clearly, other counties' officials did not want to open up a Pandora's box that might affect them personally.
It can only be hoped that this bill goes through quickly, and serves as an inspiration for people in other counties to push for the same deal.
The other development in Texas involves a January report called Don't Mess with Ethics, which provides detailed information about ethics violations by Texas legislators, which have not been pursued by the state ethics commission. It also details several possible solutions to the problem of lack of enforcement, especially with respect to the misuse of campaign funds.
The most interesting thing about the report is that it is unsigned, and I could find nothing on the internet identifying its authors. "Don't Mess with Ethics" is the name of a plan pushed by a past gubernatorial candidate, Chris Bell. The name is a clever play on the popular "Don't Mess with Texas" slogan.
The other interesting thing about the report is that, despite its anonymity, the bill seems to have caused a lot of ethics reform action in the state legislature. Today, according to the Bay Area Houston blogspot, which is focused on this issue (and behind the report?), a bill will be heard by the Elections committee that would prevent legislators from paying fines out of their campaign funds, a practice the ethics commission has said is okay.
The principal bill, which includes the above change, has been introduced by Rep. Senfronia Thompson. This bill has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing. Links to this and other bills can be found on the Bay Area Houston blogspot.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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