Ethics Commission Says Disclosure Not Required

A couple of months ago, State Representative Lon Burnam [D-Ft. Worth] asked the Texas Ethics Commission for a ruling on whether state officials must disclose the dollar amount of checks they receive as gifts. To anyone opposed to government corruption, the answer would seem to be obvious -- of course the amount of a gift should be reported. Otherwise, our state officials could be bought with huge gifts that could legally be kept secret.

This all started when former State Rep. Bill Ceverha, currently a lobbyist and board member of the State Employee Retirement System, received two checks from Republican fund-raiser Bob Perry [who helped fund the "swift boat" ads against Kerry in 2004]. Ceverha reported receiving the checks on the required disclosure form, but did not disclose the amount of the checks [the two checks were for $50,000 each].

In one of the most gutless political decisions I have ever seen, the Texas Ethics Commission announced its ruling yesterday. They ruled that a Texas state employee can keep the amount of gifts he receives a secret.

Rep. Burnam was quick to respond to the ruling. He said, "What the commission did was absurd. There is no way for the public to have any understanding of what sort of influence-peddling might be going on in state government."

Since the Texas Ethics Commission refuses to do its job, it now falls to the Texas Legislature to do it for them. Several bills have been put on the docket for the upcoming legislative session, that would require the dollar amount of all gifts to be disclosed.

Perhaps this mess will be fixed in the legislature. At least House Speaker Tom Craddick [R-Midland] is on board. He said, "I believe that any monetary gifts to public officials should be fully disclosed, including the dollar amount of the gift. Texas has some of the strongest disclosure laws in the country. However, it appears that the ethics law passed back in 1991 has an unfortunate loophole that has just been discovered. I am happy to hear that various legislators have filed legislation to fix this loophole."

Perhaps the legislature will have more common sense and political courage than the Texas Ethics Commission. We'll just have to wait and see.