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Sid Miller Buys More Than $100,000 In Stocks In AIG, Bank Of America, Other Companies With Campaign Funds

State Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) spent almost $105,000 from his political campaign account purchasing stocks in publicly traded companies ranging from AIG and Bank of America to ALCOA  and Halliburton between November 25 and December 11 of last year.

Although investing campaign cash in the stock market isn’t specifically authorized by the Texas Election Code, it is not prohibited, either.

A Texas Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion from 1994 noted that the Election code was crafted by the Legislature in a way not to prohibit investment of political contributions:

In regard to investments, we note that title 15 of the Election Code, which regulates the acceptance and expenditure of political contributions, does not expressly authorize the investment of political contributions. It does, however, anticipate that political contributions will be invested by stating that the prohibition against personal use of political contributions applies to “any interest and other income earned on” contributions. Elec. Code § 253.035(c). It is clear, therefore, that the legislature did not intend to prohibit a candidate or officeholder from investing political contributions.

We assume that in listing various types of investments the requestor intended to ask whether the degree of risk involved in a particular type of investment was relevant in determining whether a candidate or officeholder could make that type of investment with political contributions. Nothing in title 15 makes degree of risk a basis for concluding that a particular investment is or is not permissible. The only limit title 15 places on a candidate’s or officeholder’s investment of political contributions is that an investment may not constitute a conversion of a political contribution to the personal use of the candidate or officeholder. Id. § 235.035(a). “Personal use” means “a use that primarily furthers individual or family purposes not connected with the performance of duties or activities as a candidate for or holder of a public office.” Id. § 235.035(d).

A complete list of the companies Miller invested campaign contributions in, along with the amounts he paid for the shares and the number of shares he purchased is below:

 

 

20081125 4601.49 75 SHARES – TRANSOCEAN INC
20081125 5231.99 200 SHARES – COPART INC
20081126 4179.99 300 SHARES – BANK OF AMERICA
20081128 200.39 2380 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES
20081128 4049.99 400 SHARES – ALCOA INC
20081128 4580.49 110 SHARES – RESEARCH IN MOTION
20081128 3631.99 200 SHARES – ATWOOD OCEANICS INC
20081201 3167.99 200 SHARES – JUNIPER NETWORKS
20081201 4329.99 1200 SHARES – USEC INC.
20081201 3029.99 200 SHARES – HALLIBURTON CO
20081201 4519.99 1000 SHARES – GENERAL MOTORS CORP
20081201 5490.99 700 SHARES – CITIGROUP INC
20081201 5769.99 3000 SHARES – AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC
20081201 1709.99 1000 SHARES – AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC
20081201 5225.99 400 SHARES – ABIOMED INC
20081201 3989.99 200 SHARES – GAMESTOP CORP
20081202 2425.81 1728 SHARES – PACIFIC SUNWEAR OF CALIFORNIA INC
20081203 3159.99 3500 SHARES – WELWIND ENERGY INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
20081204 5091.99 2200 SHARES – SPRINT NEXTEL CORPORATION
20081204 1746.36 19293 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES
20081205 3089.99 2000 SHARES – NEUBERGER BARMAN REAL ESTATE
20081208 689.76 7553 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES INC
20081209 4347.51 88 SHARES – TRANSOCEAN INC
20081211 4959.99 1500 SHARES – LTX CREDENCE CORPORATION
20081215 2184.99 300 SHARES – CITIGROUP INC
20081219 1059.99 150 SHARES – CITIGROUP INC
20081223 1299.99 100 SHARES – BANK OF AMERICA CORP
20081223 939.99 300 SHARES – GENERAL MOTORS CORP
20081125 2920.99 Cross Timbers Royalty Trust 100 shares
20081210 6547.25 27322 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES INC
20081211 340.96 1704 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES INC
20081211 30 200 SHARES – PARTICLE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES

Although the investment of political contributions in publicly traded stocks isn’t illegal, it does raise interesting questions about whether it constitutes a conflict of interest.

While some of the companies Miller invested campaign contributions in like Pacific Sunware (PacSun) and Gamestop are unlikely to be doing business with the state of Texas any time soon unless the Legislature passes a bill to outfit every teenager in the state with with skater shirts and copies of Grand Theft Auto IV, a number of the companies Miller invested in have had dealings with the state–significant dealings.

Sprint Nextel, for example, was sued by the Texas Attorney General for charging Texas consumers a one percent fee they dubbed a “Texas Margin Fee Reimbursement.

The Texas State Securities Board investigated and initiated a multi-state settlement against Citigroup after Citigroup “misled its clients by falsely assuring them that ARS securities were as safe and liquid as cash.”

AIG settled with the Texas Attorney General’s office in 2007 following a bid-rigging investigation that resulted in a $3.7 million settlement for Texas.

Research in Motion (the company that manufactures BlackBerry devices) had some involvement with the Texas Enterprise Fund and Texas Emerging Technology Fund when it relocated its headquarters to Texas.

Juniper Networks offers its products products and services to Texas governmental and public educational entities at discounted prices through the state Department of Information Resources’ Go DIRect Program.

Other companies such as USEC, a supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants, which doesn’t appear to have any dealings with the state or its agencies, could, however, be interested in legislative actions related to nuclear power.

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  1. links from Technoratievidence of how big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  2. Off the Kuff says:

    links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  3. BlueBloggin says:

    links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more. 2009 BlueBloggin. All Rights Reserved..

  4. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  5. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  6. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  7. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatstate rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  8. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

  9. links from Technoratipotential evidence of big a tool he is and was. jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment. Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact thatState Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

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