$500 or $50,000– What’s the Difference?
This is unbelievable except for the fact that we live in Texas.
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.
Why bother with being even as specific as “currency?” Why not just describe it as a “piece of paper with monetary value?”
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.”
Which they will probably now be doing unless someone comes up with a specific definition for board.
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.
What a cop-out. They actually state that it is in their “opinion” meaning that they do have some responsibility in interpreting the law. They get to define description and they do it in the most pathetic way imaginable.
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.
Let’s see. Who would happen to be the biggest contributor to Rick Perry’s campaign–Bob Perry? And who gets to appoint half of the Ethics Commission’s members? Rick Perry? The Lt. Governor also gets to appoint two members and is a notable recipient of Bob Perry’s money.
And of course the legislature is going to make campaign reform a priority when it has property tax and education finance issues to deal with in this session as well. Oh well. At least we know how it is that we can afford to have citizen legislators.
Technorati Tags: Texas Ethics Commission, Rick Perry, Bob Perry, Campaign reform, Bill Ceverha, Raymond Davenport, Ross Fischer, Tom Harrison, Francisco Hernandez, Cullen Looney, Wales Madden, Nick Taylor
Filed under: Bob Perry, Perry Homes, Rick Perry, Texas Ethics Commission, Texas Legislature, bribe, campaign, campaign contributions, election, ethics, politics, texas, texas politics
