[Vision2020] Watchdogs Fuming Over Ethics ruling

[Tom Hansen]

>From the San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio, Texas) at:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112806.01B.ethics_decisio
n.2eede27.html

Texas Ethics Commission rules that bribery is legal if paid with cash. Tom
Delay's giggling reportedly out of control.

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Watchdogs fuming over ethics ruling 

Lisa Sandberg
Express-News Austin Bureau 

AUSTIN - A Texas official who receives any sum of cash as a gift can satisfy
state disclosure laws by reporting the money simply as "currency" without
specifying the amount, the Texas Ethics Commission reiterated Monday. 

The 5-3 decision outraged watchdog groups and some officials who accused the
commission of failing to enforce state campaign finance laws.

"What the Ethics Commission has done is legalize bribery in the state of
Texas. We call on the commission to resign en masse," said Tom "Smitty"
Smith, who heads Texas Citizen, an Austin-based group that advocates for
campaign finance reform. 

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, said the
"currency" interpretation would render it "perfectly legal to report the
gift of 'a wheelbarrow' without reporting that the wheelbarrow was filled
with cash." 

In a letter to commissioners, Earle called such an analysis "absurd and out
of step with both the law and current public attitudes and concerns about
corruption in government." 

Monday's ruling was preceded by little discussion. 

At their last meeting, commissioners said they would welcome more precise
reporting but were powerless to require it, based on current laws. 

"The question here is whether the description of a gift of cash of over $250
is required to include the value of the gift," the Ethics Commission opinion
said in part. "The term 'description' is not defined in Chapter 572 of the
Government Code, nor is it defined anywhere else in the Government Code." 

"In our opinion, the requirement to describe a gift of cash or cash
equivalent may be satisfied by including in the description the following:
'currency,' or a description of the gift, such as 'check' or 'money order,'
as appropriate," the ruling stated.  
This was the second time the commission ruled on the issue of cash gift
disclosures. In March, it ruled that a gift of two checks for $100,000 could
be listed simply as "checks." 

The case stems from a June 2005 disclosure filed by Dallas businessman Bill
Ceverha, a board member of the State Employees Retirement System board. The
system oversees a nearly $20 billion fund that provides benefits for 250,000
retired state workers. 

Ceverha disclosed that he received a gift, described only as a "check," from
Houston home builder Bob Perry, the largest Republican donor in the state. 

Both have said the check for $50,000 was supposed to help cover legal fees
Ceverha incurred defending himself against a lawsuit related to his role as
treasurer of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's Texas fundraising
operation. 

The disclosure issue is sure to surface during next year's legislative
session. Legislators have filed at least four bills for campaign finance,
and Gov. Rick Perry has said he would support changing the current statute
to require more precise reporting requirements.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown