Ethics Commission Finds Merit In Farrar’s Claims

You’ll recall that Capitol Annex earlier broke the story on State Rep. Jessica Farrar’s request for an opinion from the Texas Ethics Commission concerning whether or not lobbyists contacting legislators on behalf of candidates for speaker of the house was ethical.

The Ethics Commission had some harsh words concerning the situation:

The commission adopted an advisory opinion on Monday that said the conduct she described “is intended to influence a member in casting a vote for or against a speaker of the House of Representatives.”

But the opinion said it would be up to a “trier of facts” to determine whether the conduct violated laws against legislative bribery.

Farrar, a Democrat from Houston, said she planned to talk to her colleagues and figure out how they want to proceed. She said she has not been contacted by lobbyists but said the actions have been “pretty widespread.”

“Hopefully the practice will just stop,” she said.

This is indeed interesting. I’d still like to hear some of those voice mails and see some of those emails that brought about this complaint which Farrar mentioned in her November 9 letter to the Ethics Commission.