Travis County prosecutors are investigating state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, for taking discounted plane trips.
At issue is whether Flores adequately reimbursed the LaMantia family, who own a Budweiser distributorship in South Texas and are developing a $23 million horse racetrack in Hidalgo County.
Flores is chairman of the House committee that oversees gambling legislation.
His attorney, Roy Minton of Austin, confirmed his client is under investigation.
"The district attorney's office is investigating how Kino paid for his travel expenses, which I believe was a proper way for such expenses to be paid," Minton said.
Minton said his client hitched a ride on the LaMantia plane three times on trips between Austin and McAllen. He said Flores paid them $1,500, which is what he thought was fair market value.
Rep. Flores was one of the Democrats who, through last session, has supported Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership position. We all hope and expect that Kino is unified with the rest of the Democrats for a fairer speaker, but regardless of Mr. Flores' position, these are some serious charges that we will be following at the Burnt Orange Report.
