Two Ethics Developments in Texas
There are two interesting developments going on in Texas right now, and
two bills that will be heard in committee today.<br>
<br>
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).<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=9880767" target="”_blank”">an article on
the KVIA-TV website</a>, 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.<br>
<br>
Local state representative Marisa Marquez has authored <a href="http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=H…; target="”_blank”">House
Bill 2301</a> 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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
The other development in Texas involves a January report called <a href="http://www.box.net/shared/qa0m5mm2cu" target="”_blank”"><span>Don't Mess with Ethics,</span></a> 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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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 <a href="http://bayareahouston.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-ethics-reform-is-needed-…; target="”_blank”">the
Bay Area Houston blogspot</a>, 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.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=H…; target="”_blank”">The
principal bill</a>, 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 <a href="http://bayareahouston.blogspot.com/2009/03/recap-of-ethics-bills-in-aus…; target="”_blank”">Bay
Area Houston blogspot.</a><br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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