Yesterday the Texas House passed House Bill 677 filed by Representative Hartnett(R-Dallas) which will protect elected officials from ethics complaints 30 days prior to an election.
The bill would require the person who filed the complaint to pay attorney fees and associated costs if the Texas Ethics Commission dismisses the complaint. As simple as this sounds, there are two HUGE ethical holes in it.
State Representative Vicki Truitt
As an example, State Representative Vicki Truitt paid her husband over $90,000 to purchase (and later sell) a condo using her donor's money. A complaint was filed. This is an obvious violation of ethics laws, but after 1.5 years it was dismissed because her mortgage company lost the only document that would prove she was innocent of the charges. (It is like the dingo ate my baby) In this case the bank ate my paperwork. According to HB677, the complainant would have to pay her legal expenses. The complaint SC-2707163 was formally dismissed August of 2008.
HB3178
The other HUGE ethical hole in this bill is that there is a bill to reform the Texas Ethics Commission that would actually PREVENT ethics violations from happening and PROTECT our elected officials, but this bill is stalled in the every same committee that passed Hartnett's bill.
Hartnett's bill will pretty much kill any ethics complaint filed during a period when it is needed the most. And since we have no organization providing protection or prevention, it will be a ethics violation free for all during elections.
84 House members voted for this crap. Let's go look at their ethics reports.......
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