In Search of a New Agenda

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Ethics Reform: The blind (and dumb) commissioners

Last week the U.S. House, inspired by the well-publicized antics of corruption poster boys Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, tackled a far-reaching ethics reform bill intended to weed out corruption in Congress. The self-imposed rules – the first order of housekeeping business on opening day – passed 430-1, in about the time it takes Texas millionaire James Leininger to ink a few $100,000 campaign checks. The D.C. House achieved in a single day what some state lawmakers have been trying to accomplish for years. Maybe that's what Gov. Rick Perry was alluding to on the campaign trail when he said, "Washington, D.C.-style politics won't fly in Texas."

On that note, don't expect to see major ethics reforms coming out of the Lege this session, but there'll be plenty of attempted small steps. A bill that seeks to rein in the state's major campaign bankrollers is back by popular demand. House Democrats Mark Strama of Austin and Mike Villarreal of San Antonio have filed, for the third time in two years, legislation (HB 111) that would place a $100,000 aggregate cap on the amount an individual or political committee can give in state races during an election cycle. The bill last appeared in the 2006 special session on school finance. Bipartisan support had grown after the March primary – which saw Leininger invest $2 million toward ousting several Republican incumbents who had helped kill a school-voucher bill – but it was still not enough for passage. With the House's new political makeup, Strama believes the bill's survival chances are greater this year, but adds, "I wouldn't go to Vegas on these odds. Any time you try to take power away from incumbent politicians, you're going to have opposition."

From the department of "What do I have to do, draw you a picture?" arrives HB 158, which would do just that for the weak-kneed Texas Ethics Commission. The bill, filed by Austin Democrat Elliott Naishtat and Richardson Republican Fred Hill, would help improve the eyesight of the commission, which last year determined that a state official doesn't have to disclose the actual dollar amount of a cash gift, contrary to what the law says about reporting gifts valued over $250. The case stemmed from a 2005 disclosure form filed by Bill Ceverha, an Employees Retirement System board member, who received two $50,000 checks from Houston home-builder Bob Perry. Ceverha reported that Perry had given him "checks," but he included no dollar figures. The checks were to help Ceverha pay off legal debt related to a lawsuit in which a judge found he broke the law while serving as treasurer of DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority in the 2002 election. Ceverha subsequently filed for bankruptcy and won a nice appointment to the retirement board, courtesy of House Speaker Tom Craddick. "Many of us think that the [existing] law is clear," said Naishtat of the TEC's curious interpretation in the Ceverha case. "You can't just put down, 'I received a check.'" At any rate, HB 158 would add clarity by explicitly requiring elected or appointed officials to report the fair market value of gifts they receive, Naishtat said. Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, will carry the Senate version. – A.S.