TX HD 150: Ethics Complaint Filed Against Debbie Riddle

A major ethics complaint has been filed against State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), who faces Brad Neal (D-Spring) in the November general election. Via HCOnline:

A Montgomery County-based political watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against District 150 Representative Debbie Riddle last week, citing discrepancies in her financial reports.

According to Texas Ethics Commission documents, the July 2004 semi-annual report showed $6,654.24 for the total of political contributions.

“Calculations forward from the July 2004 report (with no outstanding loans) show that the January 2006 semi-annual report ‘Contribution Balance’ should be $42,998.84, and not zero as reported,” the complaint states. “As of June 2007, $34,169.92 is missing.”

Concerned citizen and Magnolia resident Pete Goeddertz filed the complaint against Riddle Jan. 11.

“Debbie Riddle oversees a budget of $80 billion a year and she can’t get even seem to get her campaign form correct,” Goeddertz said. “And there’s a considerable amount of money missing too.”

This could prove to be interesting. Here is Riddle’s response:

Riddle said she is in the process of determining which statements are accurate and that she will be in Austin with her current treasurer to go over the specifics this week.

During the time of the discrepancy, Riddle said an over-extended campaign worker, who was also interning at her husband’s law firm, was doing her finances.

“If all our young people were like him we wouldn’t have any need for juvenile detention,” she said. “But this was a bigger task than he needed to take on.”

That’s understandable, but surely Riddle looked at the reports before they were filed. Surely.

More:

The complaint also alleges that she changed her campaign treasurer without filing a written appointment of successor and that she accepted corporate donations, which Riddle said was false.

A report was filed for her new treasurer and the donations the claim highlights are from an insurance agency, which doesn’t fall into the corporate category, she said.

“There are some errors there, and I’m going to get them corrected to the best of my ability,” she said.

Corporate donations? Wow. Can’t wait to find more about that.

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