Criminal probe of State Representative Joe Driver begins

As Muse said yesterday, the Texas Ethics Commission is worthless, but the Travis County District Attorney's Office has teeth. Sharp ones. And unfortunately for State Representative Joe "Double Dip" Driver, they are using them. From the Austin Statesman:

"We were presented a complaint that appeared to be sufficient to require additional investigation to determine whether or not the law was violated," Cox said. "Now that the election has passed, the review, and the investigation, is taking place."

Prior to the election Driver was outed by Jay Root of the Associated Press. Root identified $17,000+ of travel related expenses that were paid by his campaign and also by the Comptroller's Office. Driver pocketed this "free money".

Later it was noted that Driver received $40,000 from the Comptroller's Office for mileage, for a car he does not own. Driver has since stated he has reimbursed his campaign (not the tax payers) $49,426 which has not been seen on his reports as of yet.

Of course, now our republican elected officials want ethics reform. They had their chance last session with a comprehensive bill filed by State Representative Senfronia Thompson. It went no where.

"If there is some place where we mandatorily [mandatorily?] show we were reimbursed by somebody else or by the state, it would make it more transparent," Geren said. "I'm going to work with the Ethics Commission to design a form that will accommodate that."

Yea. Another form to tell republicans they can't steal from the taxpayers. That is the ticket.