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Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 10:56 AM CDT
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Correction: Texans For Public Justice incorrectly reported that Justice Scott Brister failed to itemize $6,805 in reimbursements that he received from his campaign account in late 2003. Justice Brister did in fact itemize those reimbursements on a separate Texas Ethics Commission form designated for that purpose. Texans For Public Justice deeply regrets the error. This post has been update to reflect that. Texans for Public Justice has a new study of political expenditures. They looked into the Texas Supreme Court’s nine sitting justices and found troubling evidence that two additional court members may have violated campaign laws that prohibit politicians from tapping political funds for their personal use. Texans For Public Justice’s new report, Supreme Spending: Political Expenditures by Texas’ High-Court Justices, analyzes the $6.9 million in political funds that the court’s nine current justices spent between January 2001 and July 2007. Justice Dale Wainwright added his names to the list of ethically challenged Supreme Court members (I have a hard time using the word Justice with this lot). Wainright, 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. This is the same scandal that cost Gene Seaman his seat in Corpus Christi and has plagued Republicans like Toby Goodman for years. Austin-based Texas Watch filed complaints in January urging the Texas Ethics Commission to determine if three other justices tapped political funds for their personal use. Disclosures filed by Justices Paul Green, Nathan Hecht and David Medina raise disturbing questions about whether these officials used political funds to pay their personal travel expenses. “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?” Read the full report here. |
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