Watchdogs fuming over ethics ruling
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.”
I’d say they got the decision right. When you send something via UPS or FedEx do you give detailed descriptions, or do you just say ‘documents’? Well, just because this is an ‘ethics commission’ doesn’t give them the authority to make up new ethics rules. They have to follow the law which doesn’t say to give dollar amounts.
Ah…and the Ethics Commission cannot make recommendations to change the law…?
Texas–We have the best politicians that lobbyists can buy!!
Bush is setting up his retirement activity after he retires in 2008.
People can recommend whatever they want, but I don’t think government agencies should be making up new rules just because they think it’s a good idea. The Fed agencies are really bad at this. Why is Highway Safety requiring openers for people stuck inside of car trunks?
#5,
Why is Highway Safety requiring openers for people stuck inside of car trunks?
Comment by Arbo Cide — 11/28/2006 @ 12:29 pm
Because of the over reaction of those two kidnappings over the past 20 years where the victim was locked in the trunk. The issue was pushed by the right wing “Law and Order” crowd.
You missed my point. If they want to require that, iut should be passed by Congress, not made up by some people at NHTSA.