Ethics Commission Will Not Require Disclosure Of Dollar Amount of Gifts
Vince Leibowitz | Mar 24, 2006 | Comments 0 |
Via QR, the Texas Ethics Commission will not requore former TRMPAC treasurer Bill Ceverha—or, evidently, any other officials—to disclose the amounts of gifts they receive:
Today’s Ethics Commission meeting resembled nothing as much as story straight out of Kafka. The state agency empowered with overseeing disclosure of financial information about public officials opted to block the disclosure of financial information about public officials.
What prompted today’s discussion stems from whether or not Employee Retirement Commission Board member Bill Ceverha was required to disclose the amount or value of the “check” he received from homebuilder and GOP mega-contributor Bob Perry.
The issue was first raised in a complaint filed by Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice. Relying on a 1999 staff letter, the Commission said no further disclosure was required.
McDonald appealed the decision back to the Commission arguing that the statute’s requirement of a description mandated disclosure of the dollar value of the gift.
Yesterday, the Commission presumably considered McDonald’s appeal in an executive session, but as of this morning, McDonald had not yet heard the resolution of yesterday’s secret meeting.
And thus the surreal morning public meeting began with the complainant having no idea of the outcome of his complaint.
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