Another chimp (TX) Pioneer in ethics complaint

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-nuceverha_20tex.ART.State.Edition2.1db20abc.html

An ethics watchdog group filed a complaint against Dallas businessman Bill Ceverha on Thursday, saying he failed to disclose the amount of a cash gift given to him by the biggest GOP donor in the state. Mr. Ceverha is the former treasurer of the embattled, and now defunct, Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee.

The ethics complaint by Texans for Public Justice stems from a personal disclosure form Mr. Ceverha filled out last year as a trustee on the Texas Employees Retirement System board, which manages benefits for state workers and retirees. Under the heading of gifts received, Mr. Ceverha noted that he had accepted a gift from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.

The existence of a gift must be disclosed only if it exceeded $250. Under the portion of the form that requests a description of the gift, Mr. Ceverha wrote, "check."

Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, called that a "nondisclosure disclosure" that is "woefully inadequate." Mr. McDonald has asked the Ethics Commission to find that the filing is incomplete and force Mr. Ceverha to state the amount of money he took from Mr. Perry.

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http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers/pioneers_view.jsp?id=166

A former TV reporter who co-founder of the Texas Conservative Coalition, Bill Ceverha is an ex-state legislator was an author of a constitutional cap on spending in the ultimate low-tax, low-service state. Yet Ceverha’s fiscal conservatism seems to turn on whether or not a public expenditure will line his clients’ pockets

Then-Governor Bush appointed Ceverha and Pioneers George Bucy and George Bayoud to the board of the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission in 1995. The commissioners promoted the federal government’s 54-mile, $11 billion Superconducting Super Collider, which was abandoned in North Texas before completion. Governor Bush also appointed Ceverha’s wife, Mary, to the Texas Board of Health.

After heavy lobbying by Pioneer Tom Loeffler’s firm, this board voted in 1999 to bury rules that would have restricted sales of the weight-loss supplement ephedrine, which had been linked to eight Texas deaths. Ceverha and Beecherl were big supporters of the sometimes dirty campaign to elect a Republican House Speaker in Texas in 2003. Ceverha was treasurer of Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC

[Straight Shooter]

1. Bob Perry. Why am I not surprised to see his name involved in this.

The malevolent stink from that worthless bag of sh*t drifts across our country, from sea to shining sea. :(

[rainbow4321]

3. Lotsa TX repuke fishies getting in trouble down here

With any luck they will start tattling on the bigger fish.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-allen_20tex.ART.State.Edition1.1da60384.html

Republican Allen gives up seat in House

State Rep. Ray Allen, a Grand Prairie Republican known for his support of gun rights and knowledge of the corrections industries, announced Thursday that he's leaving office immediately, in the middle of his seventh term.

Mr. Allen had already decided not to seek re-election in November, ending a roller-coaster career that saw him co-author historic legislation to let Texans carry concealed guns but become embroiled in a still-unresolved investigation into his out-of-state lobbying practice.

Mr. Allen said he decided to resign early because he's tired of being broke, he no longer lives in the district and he wanted to give the governor time to call a special election to fill the seat before lawmakers meet this spring to deal with school-finance issues.

<snip>

Mr. Allen led the House Corrections Committee for one term until critics questioned why he was overseeing legislation regarding prisons and jails while he was lobbying other states' legislatures for a corrections company. Though this was not illegal, it raised ethical questions and caused House leaders to make him chairman of the County Affairs Committee instead.

[snowbear]

2. If all of Texas were only like Austin...

~~ What a kewl place the state would be..



Sigh..