ethics

Saturday Night Live makes fun of Candidate Romney's willingness to say or do anything in order to get elected.

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Lawmakers make the laws. The question is, do they follow them all to the letter?

State Rep. Ron Reynolds of Missouri City, who last month was named "Freshman of the Year" by his fellow Democrats, puts that question to the test.

A KXAN News investigation shows that as of June 1, Reynolds owed the Texas Ethics Commission nearly $10,260 in fines relating to failure to file the required financial disclosure reports required of candidates for public office and officeholders.

Read the rest of the story at KXAN.

[Cross Posted from Half Empty]

In a story buried in the Houston Chronicle on November 10th we find that Precinct 1 Commissioner-Elect Richard Morrison has a full plate of ethics reform to serve to the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court when he takes office in January.

The hors d’oeuvres to this 7 course meal are pasted below from Morrison’s website where you can also get a copy of the full resolution.

I. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

• Starting with the 2010 election cycle, limit individual contributions to a County Jude or County Commissioner to $250.
• Limit PAC contributions to $500.

II. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

• Any gift in excess of $100 to a County Judge or County Commissioner (or immediate family members) from a party with business before the County will require that Judge or Commissioner to recuse themselves from ruling or voting on that issue.

• There is a FALSE rumor going around by e-mail telling people that if they vote Straight Democratic Party, they must also cast a vote specifically for Barack Obama in order to have an Obama vote registered. THIS IS FALSE INFORMATION. The truth is that if you cast a Straight Democratic Party vote, you will be voting for Barack Obama and your Straight Democratic vote will count as a vote for Obama. But if you then go down select Obama, you may actually be cancelling your Obama vote.