San Antonio Express-News Editorial: Openly air the disgust for ethics commission

Do citizens have a right to know when a political donor gives $100,000 to a state official? The Texas Ethics Commission doesn't find any basis in state law for such a disclosure. The law requires officials to report gifts and donations they receive in excess of $250. Last month, the commission ruled that Bill Ceverha, a trustee of the $20 billion state Employees Retirement System, needed to disclose only that he received a check from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. Read the article at the San Antonio Express-News

Editorial: Openly air the disgust for ethics commission

San Antonio Express-News
04/09/06

Do citizens have a right to know when a political donor gives $100,000 to a state official? The Texas Ethics Commission doesn't find any basis in state law for such a disclosure.

The law requires officials to report gifts and donations they receive in excess of $250. Last month, the commission ruled that Bill Ceverha, a trustee of the $20 billion state Employees Retirement System, needed to disclose only that he received a check from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.

The check amount, three commissioners ruled, didn't have to be revealed because lawmakers were insufficiently clear on this common sense point.

Under mounting criticism, both Ceverha and Perry disclosed to the Dallas Morning News the amount — $50,000. Ceverha said he would report to the commission next month the receipt of a second check, also for $50,000.

If not for the outcry surrounding the ruling, the public would know only that Ceverha received two checks whose combined value equaled or exceeded $500. The disclosure to the Morning News solves the mystery of the amounts, but it doesn't absolve the commission for a decision that makes a mockery of ethics oversight.

A Perry spokesman told the newspaper the businessman has "zero interest" in the retirement system. The checks were simply gifts to help Ceverha, who declared bankruptcy as a result of legal proceedings related to his activities as treasurer for Texans for a Republican Majority.

That may be so. There may be no conflict of interest. But that is not something for Bill Ceverha, Bob Perry and three misguided commissioners to decide in private. It is something for the public to determine after full disclosure.

Raymond "Tripp" Davenport III, Ross Fischer and Francisco Hernandez are the commissioners who believe they can't require the amount of checks to be revealed without specific instructions from the Legislature. The public can share its thoughts about this ethical myopia by writing the Texas Ethics Commission, P. O. Box 12070, Austin, Texas 78711-2070.

Texas Observer: The Public's Right to 'No'

In January, Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission, arguing that Ceverha’s failure to report the amount of that check violated his obligation under Texas law to provide a “description” of any gift worth more than $250. In response to the complaint and a subsequent appeal, the Ethics Commission twice ruled in Ceverha’s favor—arguing that public officials need not quantify the gifts they receive. For the Ethics Commission, this was an act of bureaucratic self-negation. Why bother having a disclosure agency that sabotages public disclosure? Read the article at the Texas Observer

The Public's Right to "No"

Andrew Wheat | April 07, 2006 | Andrew Wheat

It was as if the Taliban had commandeered Austin’s premiere strip joint: The Texas Ethics Commission, the very state agency created to service the body politic’s right to know, orchestrated a cover up of unknown proportions.

The dustup started late last year when beleaguered Texas Employees Retirement System (ERS) trustee—and GOP power broker—Bill Ceverha reported in a routine public disclosure filing that he had received a “check” as a gift. Ceverha stopped there, failing to disclose the value of this check. Given that it came from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry— Texas’ top political donor who gives Texas Republican PACs and candidates $4 million each election—Ceverha’s mystery check could have contained oodles of zeroes.

In January, Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission, arguing that Ceverha’s failure to report the amount of that check violated his obligation under Texas law to provide a “description” of any gift worth more than $250.

In response to the complaint and a subsequent appeal, the Ethics Commission twice ruled in Ceverha’s favor—arguing that public officials need not quantify the gifts they receive. For the Ethics Commission, this was an act of bureaucratic self-negation. Why bother having a disclosure agency that sabotages public disclosure?

Fittingly, the Ethics Commission issued these rulings from behind closed doors. On March 23, agency commissioners secretly made their second and final ruling in favor of Ceverha’s nondisclosure. The very next day, they convened a public meeting on the subject. They held this hearing even though the public had yet to learn that the commissioners had just issued a final ruling the day before that made Ceverha mystery money an acceptable “disclosure” standard for cash gifts to Texas officials.

The ultimate question addressed at the public meeting: Should the commissioners issue a ruling that clarifies whether public officials must disclose the value of large cash gifts? This question confused government watchdogs, who believed that existing rules already require such disclosure. They saw no need for clarification provided that the commission interprets the existing rules reasonably. Yet the commission now convening this bizarre public discussion—before the public knew the content of the commission’s newly minted final ruling—already had ruled in favor of Ceverha’s nondisclosure at least once.

Such weirdness left people entering the meeting uncertain about how to handle Texas’ ethics czars. Commission Chair Cullen Looney quickly dispelled these doubts. Appointed by House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland), Looney railroaded the meeting. He repeatedly cut off discussions related to Craddick pal Bill Ceverha and even interrupted discussions about what the existing disclosure rules mean.

Looney insisted that the sole question before the assembly was whether the commission should attempt to clarify whether public officials must disclose the value of cash gifts? In the Looney mind, this seemed to be a yes-no question utterly divorced from the case that raised the question in the first place. This Looney framing of the issue convinced the audience that these commissioners really did need to clarify this disclosure standard—at least in their own minds.

Looney’s boorish handling of public speakers, starting with Austin attorney Buck Wood, shocked the watchdogs and media in attendance. Longtime Texas Common Cause Director Suzy Woodford sputtered, “This is not the Ethics Commission I know.” Harvey Kronberg dubbed the commission’s behavior “Kafkaesque” in his online Quorum Report.

Four of the seven commissioners attending the meeting voted to have their agency formally determine whether Texas’ disclosure standard for cash gifts truly is as meaningless as the commission’s Ceverha rulings suggest. Yet this motion failed under commission rules that require a supermajority for passage. The default result was that the Texas Ethics Commission had just invited every state official to pull a Ceverha.

Attendees lambasted the commission. Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald, who filed the Ceverha complaint, said this loophole allows a public official who receives an armored truck full of cash to report the gift as simply “a truck.” Rep. Lon Burnham, D-Fort Worth, warned that an official who accepted a mansion as a gift could just report receipt of “a thing” or “an it.” Woodford said the loophole even endangered campaign finance disclosures. She warned that a big donor, like Bob Perry, could make large, undisclosed cash gifts to candidates who then could accurately, yet misleadingly, report that they are self-financing their own campaigns.

Ceverha himself is the longtime political operative for a major funder behind Speaker Craddick’s throne: Dallas oil tycoon Louis Beecherl Jr. Ceverha’s job put him in the line of fire. He served as treasurer of Tom DeLay’s now-indicted Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC), which helped orchestrate Craddick’s 2002 speaker election. Craddick then appointed Ceverha to his speaker-transition team and subsequently to the board of the Texas Employees Retirement System, which directs $21 billion in state investments.

Ceverha has said that Bob Perry gave him the mystery check to pay legal bills that he incurred defending himself in a civil lawsuit prompted by TRMPAC’s 2002 machinations. The state district judge in that case issued a $196,600 judgment against Ceverha in 2005 after finding that he, as TRMPAC’s treasurer, failed to disclose $600,000 in illegal corporate contributions to the Ethics Commission. Although Ceverha declared bankruptcy to dodge this judgment, he has said that his related legal bills were four times the size of the judgment itself.

Ceverha’s bankruptcy—filed before his own party’s punitive federal “bankruptcy reform” took effect—spawned additional legal expenses by reviving the TRMPAC litigation in federal bankruptcy court. Now the five Democrats who sued Ceverha after losing 2002 House races to TRMPAC-backed candidates are creditors; they and their attorneys are trying to recover their court-ordered judgment from Ceverha. Meanwhile, after Ceverha filed for bankruptcy, Rep. Burnham, Texans for Public Justice and others called for his removal from state office.

Critics argue that a financial deadbeat should not oversee a $21 billion state pension fund.

In paying for his violations of one political-disclosure law, Bill Ceverha effectively shredded another. He could not have done so without the Ethics Commission’s aid. It is hard to believe that the commission would have gone through such painful contortions for just anyone. Since 2001, Ceverha patrons Bob Perry and Louis Beecherl have contributed $1.9 million to the three GOP politicians who collectively appointed all of the ethics commissioners. During this same period, Bob Perry and Louis Beecherl contributed an additional $1.8 million to Texas’ state Republican Party.

Bill Ceverha is the first flunky to take the bullet for Texans for a Republican Majority’s illegal intervention in Texas’ 2002 election. If Texas’ top donor was willing to help pay Ceverha’s legal bills—and if Ceverha didn’t want to disclose the magnitude of Bob Perry’s gift—then apparently the least that the Republican leadership could do was to obliterate the public’s right to know about it. That’s exactly what their ethics appointees did.

Andrew Wheat is research director for Austin-based Texans for Public Justice.

Texas Observer: At the Governor's Pleasure

In each four-year term, a Texas governor will appoint several hundred people to serve on various state agencies, commissions, and boards—everything from powerful policy-setting positions at the Public Utilities Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to such obscure bureaucratic outposts as the Advisory Committee on Rock Crushers and Quarries. To get appointed, it helps if you’re an expert in the area that board or commission covers. During Gov. Rick Perry’s tenure, however, it also helps if you donate to his campaign. Read the article at the Texas Observer

At the Governor's Pleasure

Leah Caldwell | April 07, 2006 | Capitol Offense

In each four-year term, a Texas governor will appoint several hundred people to serve on various state agencies, commissions, and boards—everything from powerful policy-setting positions at the Public Utilities Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to such obscure bureaucratic outposts as the Advisory Committee on Rock Crushers and Quarries. To get appointed, it helps if you’re an expert in the area that board or commission covers. During Gov. Rick Perry’s tenure, however, it also helps if you donate to his campaign.

In the past three years, Perry has appointed 1,027 individuals; 330 of the appointees, or their families, have contributed more than $3.8 million since 2000 to his campaigns for governor. Those numbers come courtesy of a new report from the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice. “The question is: How are those people selected and appointed?” asked Andrew Wheat, research director at Texans for Public Justice and contributing writer for the Observer. “I think it’s pretty clear that with gubernatorial appointments in Texas, not just with Governor Perry, but with past governors, there has been a significant political and financial component involved.” Gov. Perry’s office did not respond to a call seeking comment.

As the report shows, the sheer number of committees in Texas ensures that there is no dearth of places for political donors to call home. From the largest commissions to the smallest, a Perry supporter is almost sure to be found—even in the graveyards. The chair of the Texas State Cemetery Committee, Scott P. Sayers Jr., has donated $4,950 to Perry’s runs for governor. “I just talked to Governor Perry several years ago and said to him that this place [Texas State Cemetery] was close to my heart,” Sayers said of his appointment. “We’ve been friends for a long time and he realized my love and interest in the cemetery.”

Not surprisingly, certain appointments are more sought after than others. Some of the heftiest contributions came from appointees to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and from regents at the state’s universities, coupling what the report calls “the twin Texas obsessions of hunting and football.” The top donor among Perry’s appointees is insurance magnate Larry Anders who has given more than $220,000 to Perry’s campaign. The governor named Anders to a regent seat at Texas Tech University in 2005 despite zero experience in education-related fields. When contacted by the Observer, an assistant to Anders said the regent doesn’t consent to interviews.

Not far behind on the donor-appointee list is Robert B. Rowling, chairman of Omni hotels and the fourth-richest man in Texas. Rowling said that he sees no connection between his campaign donations of $207,262 to Perry and his appointment to the University of Texas System Board of Regents. “I’m sure if you looked at all of the appointments, they’re all supporters of [Perry] or they wouldn’t be appointed to begin with,” he said. “It’s a nonpaid position and all we do is work our rears off.” And besides, Rowling noted, “I already had great football tickets before he appointed me.” Other UT regents who contributed to Perry’s campaign are James Huffines ($122,180) and Scott Caven ($15,498).

“Governor Perry is not necessarily appointing people who are the best and brightest or even the best administrative minds in Texas,” Wheat said. “Clearly these people serve to pleasure the governor and the governor rewards people who contribute to his campaign.” Indeed, you have to wonder why, exactly, construction equipment magnate—and San Antonio Spurs owner—Peter Holt merited a spot on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Holt has contributed $206,000 to Perry since 2000.

Other big donors such as Donna Stockton-Hicks (total: $163,160), occupy prestigious but less consequential posts on organizations like the Poet Laureate, State Musician, and State Artists Committee (universally known as the PLSMSAC). Stockton-Hicks runs a design warehouse in Austin.

In at least one case, Perry donors got their own state agency. In 2003, the Legislature created the Texas Residential Construction Commission, at the governor’s behest, ostensibly to regulate the home-construction industry. Homebuilders, however, have dominated the agency from the start. Seven of the nine agency commissioners appointed by Perry have direct ties to homebuilders. That includes Commissioner John Krugh, corporate counsel for Perry Homes—the building company owned by GOP mega-donor Bob Perry [see “The Agency That Bob Perry Built,” February 4, 2005]. Perry Homes has contributed $690,000 to Gov. Perry (no relation) since 2000. In all, employers of the governor’s appointees have donated more than $3 million.

By law, candidates are required to disclose the employers and occupations of individuals who donate $500 or more. Curiously, the Perry campaign seems to have trouble identifying the occupation of the governor’s own political appointees. For instance, under a $25,000 donation from Erle Nye—chairman of TXU Corp. and a Perry appointee to the Texas A&M Board of Regents—the campaign left blank Nye’s occupation. For a $20,000 contribution from William F. Scott—whom Perry once appointed to the Jefferson and Orange County Pilot Commission—the campaign listed Scott’s occupation as “best efforts,” meaning the campaign didn’t know. Others were left blank or simply labeled “retired” or “self.” Here’s a suggestion: how about “money bags”?

Leah Caldwell is a freelance writer and Observer intern originally from Houston.

SA Express-News column: DeLay and TPJ

The morning after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said he will leave Congress, Andrew Wheat, research director of Texans for Public Justice, sent out a short statement that began: "How the mighty have fallen." TPJ, a nonpartisan think tank that tracks the role of corporate money on Texas politics, filed the original criminal complaint against DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC on March 31, 2003. Initially, it was pooh-poohed as a frivolous, sour-grapes gesture, but it set off probes that have produced a growing list of indictments — and apparently ended DeLay's political career. Read the article at the San Antonio Express-News

Carlos Guerra: Researcher who kicked off inquiries ponders DeLay's future

San Antonio Express-News
04/06/06

The morning after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said he will leave Congress, Andrew Wheat, research director of Texans for Public Justice, sent out a short statement that began: "How the mighty have fallen."

TPJ, a nonpartisan think tank that tracks the role of corporate money on Texas politics, filed the original criminal complaint against DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC on March 31, 2003.

Initially, it was pooh-poohed as a frivolous, sour-grapes gesture, but it set off probes that have produced a growing list of indictments — and apparently ended DeLay's political career.

"What historic times we live in," Wheat said from his Austin office.

It all began when DeLay tried to put together a $1 million PAC in 2000 to give the GOP control of the Texas House and, thereby, of congressional redistricting.

"But they didn't raise squat, so the next election cycle, they decided to do it by any means necessary, and corporate money is a lot easier to raise," Wheat says.

But since Texas law bans corporate money in electioneering, they circumvented the prohibition in several ways, and some overenthused players couldn't stay quiet.

In 2002, after the GOP took over the Texas House, the Texas Association of Business' Web site bragged that TAB had "blown the doors on the election" with $1.9 million of "issue ads" that attacked Democratic candidates, triggering an investigation by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

"Then, in March, 2003, we got the disclosures DeLay's TRMPAC had filed with the Internal Revenue Service, and in comparing those with the ones they filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, we found a $600,000 difference," Wheat recalls, "because they reported their corporate (contributions) to IRS but not to the Ethics Commission of a state where corporate electioneering is prohibited."

TPJ's criminal complaint accused TRMPAC of spending corporate money in violation of Texas law, and that case proved easier for Earle to prosecute than his case against TAB.

"That was the beginning, and much as they are doing now with the federal case, DeLay's spokespeople kept saying, 'We've been assured by Earle that (DeLay) is not a target,'" Wheat says. "It was a mantra they kept up until just before he was indicted."

Asked what other shoes he expects will drop, Wheat said he doesn't know the internal workings of ongoing federal probes, and DeLay may not be a federal target. "But it seems even more improbable that he won't be indicted because three people who have been indicted and copped deals are close insiders, (and) given the game of using smaller fish to get the bigger fish, it sure is looking like the noose is tightening on Tom DeLay."

Most interesting, the researcher said, is the latest federal indictment of "Tony Rudy (which) refers to Mr. DeLay for the first time, and also to another former DeLay aide-turned-lobbyist, Ed Buckham."

Wheat also believes that we may have only seen the tip of the iceberg in the Abramoff investigation because "all we have seen so far are the Native American e-mails, and Abramoff had a lot more clients than that, but (those e-mails) do show a pattern of quid pro quo and corruption of public officials."

But in his statement, Wheat took DeLay at his word, that he will resign because he fears that he might not win re-election.

"Here's the man who perfected the art of buying political offices," Wheat mused.

"And now, he cannot even buy his own seat in his own backyard at any price."

Dallas Morning News: Ceverha gift checked in at $50,000

Megadonor Bob Perry gave state board appointee Bill Ceverha a gift of $50,000 – described only as a check on ethics forms – in 2004, both men confirmed Tuesday, the first time the gift's amount has been disclosed. Mr. Perry followed with another gift of $50,000 in January 2005, and that is due to be reported to the state in May, the Republicans said. Read the article at the Dallas Morning News

Gift checked in at $50,000

Exclusive: 2004 donation to state board appointee sparked ethics storm

Wednesday, April 5, 2006
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Megadonor Bob Perry gave state board appointee Bill Ceverha a gift of $50,000 – described only as a check on ethics forms – in 2004, both men confirmed Tuesday, the first time the gift's amount has been disclosed.

Mr. Perry followed with another gift of $50,000 in January 2005, and that is due to be reported to the state in May, the Republicans said.

The men said they came forward with the total of $100,000, even though they didn't have to, after recognizing that the secrecy shrouding the gift had touched off an outcry over vague requirements for public officials to disclose personal gifts. The Texas Ethics Commission decided in the case that state disclosure laws don't require specifying the amount of a monetary gift.

Public advocacy groups, lawmakers and others have decried the ruling, rendered 10 days ago, saying it creates a gigantic loophole that allows public officials to accept huge amounts of cash, which could legally reported as "a stack of paper."

The commission determined that Mr. Ceverha, a member of the board that governs the state Employees Retirement System, met the legal requirements when he listed the gift from Mr. Perry only as a check.

Some commission members said that the law called only for a description of the gift – not its value – and that the loophole would have to be closed by the Legislature.

Mr. Ceverha, a Dallas businessman and longtime GOP activist, incurred about $850,000 in legal fees and declared personal bankruptcy last year after a judge in a civil lawsuit found him responsible for the improper actions of the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee, which he served as treasurer.

Mr. Perry and Mr. Ceverha provided identical letters from Mr. Perry that accompanied the checks, dated Sept. 8, 2004 and Jan. 27, 2005. The letters describe a $50,000 gift with no strings attached but state that Mr. Perry assumes the money would go toward legal fees and that "no contribution to any candidate or political action committee ... will be made or will result as a consequence of your personal use of these funds."

"We've now gone beyond the requirement," Mr. Ceverha said.

Perry spokesman Anthony Holm said the private homebuilder has "zero interest" in the state retirement system and viewed the check to Mr. Ceverha as charitable giving.

"Both men have chosen to operate above and beyond what the law requires. Mr. Perry has always respected open government," Mr. Holm said.

The activities of TRMPAC led to the criminal indictment of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two of his top lieutenants on charges that they laundered corporate money – which can't be used in Texas political races – and funneled it into key state House races.

The success in those races led to a GOP majority in the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction, the election of Tom Craddick as speaker and subsequent congressional redistricting that boosted the GOP majority in Washington.

Mr. Craddick is close friends with Mr. Ceverha and appointed him to the state retirement commission.

Mr. Perry, the largest donor to Republican causes in the state, also was a large contributor to TRMPAC.

Mr. Perry considered the $100,000 a charitable gesture, even paying the taxes on the gift, Mr. Holm said.

"Bill Ceverha and his family had a disservice done to them. He and his family were literally driven to bankruptcy," Mr. Holm said.

Because the top leaders of TRMPAC were under criminal charges and the committee folded, Mr. Ceverha was the only one left to sue in civil court, and he alone faced the $196,000 judgment, along with his legal fees.

Mr. Ceverha said that the lawsuit has left him with little and that he put out solicitations by mail and in person to raise money to diminish his debts.

"I was awestruck, frankly, not only that he would do that much, but that he did it as a gift where he had to pay taxes," Mr. Ceverha said of Mr. Perry. "He just felt what a difficult situation this lawsuit had put me in and that it was draining my resources, and he wanted to help."

Mr. Ceverha said that in addition to the $100,000 from Mr. Perry, he received other checks and gifts totaling close to $30,000.

All of the money immediately went to satisfy his legal fees, he said.

Cris Feldman, the attorney for the defeated Democratic candidates who sued TRMPAC, has not been paid by Mr. Ceverha, and his firm is listed as a creditor in the bankruptcy. He had sought through bankruptcy court filings to have the amount of the gift disclosed.

Told Tuesday of the amounts, Mr. Feldman said the gift and how it was spent still raise questions.

"Given Mr. Ceverha's history of hiding money in TRMPAC and not saying where it was spent, the revelation warrants a thorough investigation," Mr. Feldman said. "His suggestion that this was spent on legal fees can't be taken on face value. How this money was spent is an area where he has little or no credibility."

Tom DeLay Will Resign Rather Than Face His Own Constituents

“How the mighty have fallen. The man who perfected the art of buying political offices now cannot buy his own seat in his own backyard at any price. K Street has thoroughly nauseated Main Street.”--Texans for Public Justice Research Director Andrew Wheat

Austin-based TPJ filed the original criminal complaint against DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority PAC three years ago on March 31, 2003.

San Antonio Express-News Editorial: Ethics panel renders itself next to useless

State law requires officials to report gifts and donations they receive in excess of $250. In the case of Bill Ceverha, a trustee of the state Employees Retirement System, the public doesn't know whether the check he received from Houston homebuilder and Republican mega-donor Bob Perry was in the amount of a few hundred dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars. Read the article at the San Antonio Express-News

Editorial: Ethics panel renders itself next to useless

San Antonio Express-News
3/28/06

In a decision that defies common sense, the Texas Ethics Commission determined it's enough for the public to know a state official received a donation. No one needs to know, according to the commission, the value of that donation.

State law requires officials to report gifts and donations they receive in excess of $250. In the case of Bill Ceverha, a trustee of the state Employees Retirement System, the public doesn't know whether the check he received from Houston homebuilder and Republican mega-donor Bob Perry was in the amount of a few hundred dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars.

That's no exaggeration. According to Texans for Public Justice, Perry gave $4.6 million to politicians and political committees during the 2004 election cycle.

And Ceverha is no ordinary state official. In 2002, he served on the transition team of House Speaker Tom Craddick, who appointed him to the retirement system board. He also served as treasurer for Rep. Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority.

A state district judge ruled in a civil case that Ceverha failed to disclose more than $600,000 in corporate money the group received. Fines and legal fees from that court battle led Ceverha to file for bankruptcy last October. The Perry gift, he says, was meant to help him cover those expenses.

"I just felt, why should this be anybody's business?" Ceverha told Express-News Austin bureau chief Peggy Fikac.

Perhaps because the board of the Employees Retirement System has nearly $20 billion in assets under its supervision. So the public has a clear right to know details about gifts to its members that might pose a conflict of interest or even the appearance thereof.

The Texas Ethics Commission certainly knows this. Nonetheless, Raymond "Tripp" Davenport III, Ross Fischer and Francisco Hernandez voted to keep the value of Perry's gift hidden from public view. Ceverha's disclosure that he had merely received a "check" from Perry was sufficient.

A public disclosure policy that doesn't require a value to be placed on gifts is next to worthless. So is an ethics commission that could render such a decision.

Statement of County Attorney David Escamilla re: Ralph Reed

In December of last year, representatives from three public watchdog organizations - Texans for Public Justice, Common Cause Texas, and Public Citizen - requested the Travis County Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations that Mr. Reed, without first registering as a lobbyist under Texas law, had lobbied members of Texas’ Executive and Legislative branches seeking to close certain casinos. Travis County Attorney David Escamilla announced today that his office has concluded its review of allegations presented to date concerning Ralph Reed and possible violations of Texas’ Lobby Registration laws.

Statement of County Attorney David Escamilla re: Ralph Reed

For Immediate Release:	For More Information Contact:
March 27, 2006	Craig McDonald, 512-472-9770

Austin, TX: Travis County Attorney David Escamilla announced today that his office has concluded its review of allegations presented to date concerning Ralph Reed and possible violations of Texas’ Lobby Registration laws, citing Texas’ two-year statute of limitations for misdemeanor violations as a bar to proceeding with a formal criminal investigation and possible prosecution.

In December of last year, representatives from three public watchdog organizations - Texans for Public Justice, Common Cause Texas, and Public Citizen - requested the Travis County Attorney’s Office to investigate allegations that Mr. Reed, without first registering as a lobbyist under Texas law, had lobbied members of Texas’ Executive and Legislative branches seeking to close certain casinos, operated by the Tigua Tribe of El Paso and the Alabama Coushatta Tribe in East Texas, on behalf of Jack Abramoff and casinos operated by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

The review was subsequently expanded to include an additional allegation that, in 2002, Mr. Reed had lobbied members of Texas’ State Board of Education on behalf of in-school television network Channel One.

David Escamilla said, “Although new information and revelations regarding Mr. Abramoff and his activities continue to flow as a result of his recent indictment and guilty plea, all information we have received, to date, concerning Mr. Reed’s activity in Texas relate to calendar years 2001 and 2002. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides that misdemeanor charges may not be presented beyond two years of the date of commission of the offense.”

Texas law provides an exception to the required registration as a lobbyist “if no more than 5.0% of the person's compensated time during a calendar quarter is time spent engaging in lobby activity.” The information presented by the complainants raise legitimate questions concerning Mr. Reed’s activities and possible violation of Texas law. The process of proving such violations would require a comprehensive criminal investigation delving into the financial arrangement between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Reed as well as the actual compensation received by Mr. Reed for any time spent communicating with members of Texas’ government. According to Mr. Escamilla, “Without evidence involving lobbying activities within the last two years, I cannot justify initiating a formal criminal investigation given the statute of limitations bar to prosecution of Mr. Reed for any of his activities in 2001 and 2002.”

David Escamilla added, “We will continue to review any new information regarding Mr. Reed’s lobbying activities and move forward to enforce Texas’ lobby registration laws should any violations not barred by the statute of limitations come to our attention.”

Dallas Morning News: Lawmakers need not claim amount of gifts

The seven commission members, appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker, wrestled with disclosure laws that compel public officials to report gifts over $250. The law calls for a description of the gift, and some commissioners said indicating simply "cash" – without an amount – satisfies the statute. But government watchdogs told the commissioners that they are failing to enforce the clear meaning of the law, rendering it useless. Read the article at the Dallas Morning News

Lawmakers need not claim amount of gifts

State ethics panel says legislators have to give descriptions -- not amounts

Friday, March 24, 2006
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – The Texas Ethics Commission decided Friday that public officials who receive cash or other gifts don't have to disclose the value, stunning open-government advocates.

"This is absurd, dangerous and completely undermines the reform legislation," said Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth.

The seven commission members, appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker, wrestled with disclosure laws that compel public officials to report gifts over $250. The law calls for a description of the gift, and some commissioners said indicating simply "cash" – without an amount – satisfies the statute.

But government watchdogs told the commissioners that they are failing to enforce the clear meaning of the law, rendering it useless.

"This ruling leaves a big enough loophole to drive an armored truck full of money through," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, which advocates for public disclosure. "All you would have to say is 'a truck.' "

The commission's decision not to review the rule means that public officeholders can accept trips, jewelry or large amounts of cash from those who may benefit from their decisions and not have to disclose the value.

The case stems from a June 2005 disclosure filed by Dallas businessman Bill Ceverha, a close friend of House Speaker Tom Craddick, who appointed him to the State Employees Retirement System board. The system oversees a nearly $20 billion fund that provides benefits for 250,000 retired state workers.

Mr. Ceverha disclosed that he received a gift, described only as a "check," from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, the largest Republican donor in the state. Mr. Ceverha has declined to say how much the check was for. Mr. Perry's spokesman has described it as charitable – not political – giving.

A commission staff ruling held that Mr. Ceverha's description of the gift as a "check" was sufficient. And in its decision Friday, the Ethics Commission refused to revisit the rule or its interpretation.

All the commissioners who spoke agreed this constitutes an egregious loophole. But three commissioners blocked the possibility of a different interpretation, saying it is up to the Legislature to clarify the law. Six of seven commissioners must agree before a rule can be reconsidered.

Commissioner Ross Fischer said other parts of open-government law specify that a value must be disclosed but the gifts section states only that a description be provided. He said it appears the Legislature didn't intend to compel disclosure of the value of gifts. But some commission members were upset by the decision.

"It is a ludicrous position, one that is contrary to the public's interest," said Commissioner Nicholas Taylor of Midland.

Mr. Taylor said a public official who reports receiving a check has only disclosed the method of conveyance, not the gift itself.

Other commissioners said this interpretation means public officials can report receiving 10 pieces of paper without mentioning that they were $100 bills.

Mr. Taylor has placed the same issue on the Ethics Commission agenda for next month, urging fellow commissioners to revisit their decision.

Afterward, Mr. McDonald said he was disappointed.

"Apparently there are not six votes for public disclosure from a commission charged with public disclosure," he said.

Gov. Rick Perry's press secretary, Kathy Walt, said the governor supports disclosure of the amount of gifts, whether that needs to be accomplished through the rules of the commission or by the Legislature next year.

While Mr. Ceverha and Bob Perry have declined to discuss the gift, a recent personal bankruptcy indicates that the check paid for lawyers who represented Mr. Ceverha in a civil suit over improper use of corporate contributions in GOP political races.

In that bankruptcy filing, Mr. Ceverha was asked about the Bob Perry gift and stated that it was all spent to pay his lawyers. He refused to disclose the amount.

Lobby Watch:Leininger Clan Injected $3.1 Million into Texas Politics in Last 5 years

Conservative activist James Leininger—Texas’ No. 2 individual donor—is making headlines again for trying to defeat moderate Republican Primary candidates who opposed his school-voucher agenda. From 2001 through 2005, Leininger’s family contributed more than $3.1 million to conservative PACs and Republican candidates in Texas, second only to Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, whose family spent $11 million in that period.
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