[Texgreen] A suitcase stuffed with $100 bills is perfectly fine

[Roger Baker]

[You can already tell from the heading that this is going to be about  
Texas politics, right? -- Roger]


<http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/29/ 
MNGPRMLHU31.DTL>

Cash gift loophole for Texas officials
Unlimited money allowed with only vague disclosure

Miguel Bustillo, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, November 29, 2006

(11-29) 04:00 PST Houston -- Looking for that special something to  
give a Texas politician this holiday season? Don't fret: A suitcase  
stuffed with $100 bills is perfectly fine.
The Texas Ethics Commission affirmed this week that state officials  
can accept unlimited gifts of cash from donors without revealing how  
much they got. All public officials have to do is report a gift of  
"currency" on a disclosure form and who the money came from.

The legal interpretation shocked campaign-finance watchdogs and some  
Texas officials, who argued that it was tantamount to legalizing  
bribery in the Lone Star State. Under Texas law, elected officials,  
board appointees and many other public officials are supposed to  
disclose and describe any gift over $250.

"This creates a loophole big enough to drive an armored car full of  
cash through," said Craig McDonald, director of the nonprofit group  
Texans for Public Justice. "It makes a mockery of our ethics laws."

Ronnie Earle, the Travis County district attorney leading the  
corruption prosecution of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,  
called the interpretation absurd in a letter to the panel. He joked  
that Texas officials could reveal receiving a gift of a wheelbarrow,  
"without reporting that the wheelbarrow was filled with cash."

The issue came to light after Texans for Public Justice protested a  
disclosure filed last year by Bill Ceverha, a board member of the  
Employees Retirement System of Texas, which administers benefits for  
about 250,000 former state workers and oversees a $19.9 billion fund.

Ceverha reported a "check" from Bob Perry -- a Houston homebuilder  
and major Republican Party benefactor who is the biggest political  
donor in Texas -- but did not state its amount. Perry is best known  
nationally for funding the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad campaign  
against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Perry and Ceverha both stated that the gifts were two checks for  
$100,000, and were intended to help Ceverha defend himself against a  
civil suit related to his former role as the treasurer of a Texas  
political action committee created by DeLay. Ceverha filed for  
personal bankruptcy last year.

Campaign finance watchdogs were outraged when the Texas Ethics  
Commission ruled that public officials who receive large sums as  
checks do not have to disclose the amount -- as long as they report a  
gift of a "check" and its origin. Critics argued that such a loose  
interpretation of the law allowed a big donor to give thousands to a  
candidate as a personal gift. The candidate could then act as if he  
were funding his campaign out of his own pocket.

Some ethics panelists conceded there was a problem, but argued that  
it was the wording of the law that needed to be fixed. State  
lawmakers and Gov. Rick Perry have said they will consider tightening  
the restrictions next year.