Sid Miller Buys More Than $100,000 In Stocks In AIG, Bank Of America, Other Companies With Campaign Funds
By Vince Leibowitz on Feb 7, 2009 in Featured, Texas Legislature ![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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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.
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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