More Texas Supreme Court Justices In Hot Water Over Political Expenditures

A new study by watchdog group Texans for Public Justice has found that two additional justices on the Texas Supreme Court have likely violated campaign finance laws which prohibit politicians from using political funds for personal expenses:

Supreme Spending found that Justice Dale Wainwright, who was elected to the high court in November 2002, reported spending more than $7,000 in political funds to pay rent and utilities in conjunction with an apparent 2003 residence that he maintained at the Gables at Town Lake, a luxury apartment development in Austin. Texas election law expressly prohibits judges from paying living expenses out of political funds.

Oops. Hard to explain away that one. But wait, there’s more:

Justice Scott Brister used political funds to pay himself a total of $6,805 in mystery reimbursements in the month following his November 2003 appointment to the high court. State election law prohibits such personal reimbursements unless the recipient provides an itemized accounting of what the reimbursements are for. Brister’s mystery reimbursements failed to disclose the underlying “payees, dates, purposes and amounts of the expenditures,” as required by law. None of the other justices reimbursed themselves for completely unknown expenditures.

Similarly, Brister reported 49 lump-sum payments totaling $22,984 that appear to have been reimbursements to himself for a grab-bag of travel expenses. In a May 2005 reimbursement, for example, Justice Brister reported a lump-sum payment of $1,189 for his flight, hotel and rental-car costs from a trip to Philadelphia. These composite payments also appear to violate state standards for itemized disclosures.

These two justices are only the latest ones under the microscope. Justices Paul Green, Nathan Hecht, and David Medina have already been the beneficiary of complaints filed at the Texas Ethics Commission over their spending.

“It’s shocking to consider that a majority of the Texas Supreme Court may have violated Texas election laws,” said Texans For Public Justice Director Craig McDonald. “How did we get to the point where justices charged with upholding Texas law act as if they are above it?”

I wonder if TPJ will take a similar look at the Court of Criminal Appeals justices?

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