Panel backs legislator's complaint

[Judi Lynn]

Nov. 28, 2006, 10:26PM
Panel backs legislator's complaint
Rep. Farrar says lobbyists turning up pressure to support Craddick

Associated Press

AUSTIN — A state ethics panel has sided with a lawmaker who complained that lobbyists were pressuring her colleagues to support Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick for another term but said it could not determine whether the actions were illegal.

In a Nov. 9 letter to the Texas Ethics Commission, Democratic state Rep. Jessica Farrar said the lobbyists had promised some House members that a candidate for speaker would give them sought-after assignments during the next session and would see to it that his loyalists have "the right support" in the next election cycle.

Farrar, who later identified the candidate as Craddick, asked whether that constituted legislative bribery, which is barred by state law.

The commission adopted an advisory opinion on Monday that said the conduct she described "is intended to influence a member in casting a vote for or against a speaker of the House of Representatives."

But the opinion said it would be up to a "trier of facts" to determine whether the conduct violated laws against legislative bribery.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4365902.html