{"id":10517,"date":"2006-12-30T19:52:24","date_gmt":"2006-12-31T02:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/12\/30\/obviously-im-in-the-wrong-line-of-work.html"},"modified":"2006-12-30T19:52:24","modified_gmt":"2006-12-31T02:52:24","slug":"obviously_im_in_the_wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/12\/30\/obviously_im_in_the_wrong.html","title":{"rendered":"Obviously I’m in the wrong line of work"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Texas governmental officials have to report on all gifts given them — they don’t have to get too<\/em> specific<\/a> …<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

A Texas official who receives any sum of cash as a gift can satisfy state disclosure laws by reporting the money simply as “currency” without specifying the amount, the Texas Ethics Commission reiterated Monday.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The 5-3 decision outraged watchdog groups and some officials who accused the commission of failing to enforce state campaign finance laws. <\/p>\n

“What the Ethics Commission has done is legalize bribery in the state of Texas. We call on the commission to resign en masse,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, who heads Texas Citizen, an Austin-based group that advocates for campaign finance reform. <\/p>\n

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, said the “currency” interpretation would render it “perfectly legal to report the gift of ‘a wheelbarrow’ without reporting that the wheelbarrow was filled with cash.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To be fair, the commission says it’s hamstrung by poorly written law.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“The question here is whether the description of a gift of cash of over $250 is required to include the value of the gift,” the Ethics Commission opinion said in part. “The term ‘description’ is not defined in Chapter 572 of the Government Code, nor is it defined anywhere else in the Government Code.” <\/p>\n

“In our opinion, the requirement to describe a gift of cash or cash equivalent may be satisfied by including in the description the following: ‘currency,’ or a description of the gift, such as ‘check’ or ‘money order,’ as appropriate,” the ruling stated. <\/p>\n

This was the second time the commission ruled on the issue of cash gift disclosures. In March, it ruled that a gift of two checks for $100,000 could be listed simply as “checks.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Legislators and the governor say they’ll fix all that next session. Unless, of course, someone offers them enough “currency” gifts …<\/p>\n

(via ThisIsTrue<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Texas governmental officials have to report on all gifts given them — they don’t have to get too specific … A Texas official who receives any sum of cash…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131027,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/08\/the-struck-down-texas-anti-abortion-laws-served-their-purpose-sort-of.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":0},"title":"The struck-down Texas anti-abortion laws served their purpose … sort of","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Jul-16 5:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Abortions in Texas in 2014 were, overall, down -- but precipitously down among Latina women, at least as far as official statistics go. There was a recorded uptick in women going to neighboring states but indications that a lot of those abortions changed over to medicinal abortions using less-safe meds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129163,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/17\/and-theyll-know-we-are-christians-by-our-love-texas-ag-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":1},"title":"And They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love (Texas Ag Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 17-Dec-15 6:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has had it with people insulting him.\"If one more person says Happy Holidays to me I just might slap them. Either tell me Merry Christmas or just don't say anything.\"Yes! This! Exactly the message that Christ Himself preached! Amirite?Happy Holidays, Sid. Try not to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31649,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/08\/texas-reconsiders-family-planning.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":2},"title":"Texas reconsiders family planning","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 8-Dec-12 11:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not at all surprisingly, Texas Republicans are discovering that if you gut family planning programs for the poor, the poor end up having bigger families, which then impacts all sorts of other social services.'Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, has been an advocate for getting Planned Parenthood off of taxpayer financing, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138217,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/11\/dont-worry-it-was-only-a-temporary-episodic-medical-condition.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":3},"title":"Don’t worry — it was only a “temporary, episodic medical condition”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-Mar-19 6:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Texas Judge Jack Robison disciplined for telling a jury God wanted them to acquit a defendant - CNN The judge\u00a0apparently \"walked into the jury room after the jury's deliberations, said he had been praying about the case, and informed the jurors God told him the defendant was innocent.\" He went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/god-wants-defendant-acquitted.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/god-wants-defendant-acquitted.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/god-wants-defendant-acquitted.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9981,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/02\/they_make_em_bigger_in_te.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":4},"title":"They make ’em bigger in Texas!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Oct-06 9:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It may be legal to use sex toys in Texas -- but it's not legal to sell 'em. The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether a Texas law making...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50369,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/06\/the-despicable-claim-of-credit.html","url_meta":{"origin":10517,"position":5},"title":"The Despicable Claim of Credit","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-May-15 5:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"ISIL claims credit for the attack on a \"You're Not Here for the Hunting\" exhibition of and awards for anti-Muhammad cartoons down in Texas. While that will warm the cockles of the hearts of any number of \"See, They Are Beasts Whom We Should Launch A Full Military Assault On\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}