Biggest Ethics Reforms Died on Governor's Desk
Lawmakers took care of an ethics problem of concern to candidates this year: From now on, political consultants who also lobby the Legislature will have to list the names of their political clients in their lobby filings.
That's of interest to lawmakers and, to some extent, to anyone else who thinks political consultants might have better access to their lawmaker-clients, and thus might have an advantage over other lobbyists and the public in trying to persuade those lawmakers.
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Even among the elected officials who are regulated by state ethics laws, support for some changes was strong. The House and Senate — by wide margins (29-2 and 137-8) — approved an omnibus ethics bill that would have tightened the reporting requirements for candidates and organizations involved in politics in Texas, and made it easier to tell the difference between serious campaign finance violations and small, technical mistakes.
But Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it, noting that he was throwing out some needed reforms in order to avoid what he considered fatal flaws.
More at http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/14/ethics-bill-died-governors-desk/ .
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