Senators Live Beyond Their Means

[NoPasaran]

State senators drive pricey cars, live in expensive condos, eat in the finest restaurants, jet across the country, and lavish extravagant gifts on constituents – all on a measly salary of $7,200 a year. No wonder they aren't clamoring for a pay raise.

In fact, most of the 31 members of the Texas Senate draw on the kindness of big campaign donors to help support their lifestyles, according to a recent study by watchdog organization Campaigns for People. The group's biggest discovery – that only 40% of the senators' campaign funds go toward actual campaign activities – surprised even the most cynical political observers. The remaining 60%, the report found, paid for lifestyle, office, or miscellaneous expenses. The study, aptly named "Money in All the Wrong Places," is based on an examination of senators' campaign-finance reports filed electronically with the Texas Ethics Commission. The data covered a three-year time period between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2003.

The findings illustrate how the system is hobbled by ineffective campaign-finance and ethics laws, said Fred Lewis, executive director of Campaigns for People and a proponent of massive reforms. Lewis attributes the lawmakers' freewheeling spending habits to their low salaries – low even for part-time "citizen legislators." Texas is one of 40 states with a part-time lawmaker system, but one of the lowest-paying of all the states. Given the recent legislative meltdowns over redistricting and lack of action on school finance, one could easily conclude that you get what you pay for in Texas. Lewis likened the situation to a company that grossly underpays its employees and then wonders why the firm is hanging by its fingernails.

To survive as a legislator in this state, Lewis surmised, "You have to be either independently wealthy or live off your campaign contributions. Or both." Siphoning funds from campaign war chests can, of course, create the perception of dependence on powerful political action committees and individual donors, not to mention conflicts of interests and divided loyalties. Former state Sen. Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo, who resigned in January after President Bush appointed him U.S. ambassador to Sweden, drew campaign funds from right-wingers and became an advocate for school vouchers and tort reform. Though he is a wealthy businessman and rancher, Bivins dipped into his war chest nonetheless to pay for his $3,000-a-month condominium in Austin.

-more-

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-07-23/pols_feature7.html

[sonias]

1. Good report from the good folks at CFP

You can view the report and download it in word format from
http://www.cleanuptexaspolitics.com

Money in all the Wrong Places (link)

Sonia

[GOPisEvil]

2. Another reason Texas Politics is so screwed up.

By the way, in the print issue of the Chronicle there is a chart showing examples. Not happy reading.

[Brazosboomer]

3. On a Commissioners Court near you --

Hey - this stuff isn't limited to State Senators. Take a gander at Fort Bend County's County Judge (a Republican, of course) - http://www.brazosriver.com/kitty.htm

I'm going to continue this series with members of commissioners court.

This is tax-free money that no one enforces how it is spent. You can check your own county and write letters to the editor about it. Odds are, your local newspaper won't do the research.

By the way, we have one county commissioner who raises about $150,000 a year, with 95% of it coming from no-bid vendors to the county. He uses it to rent fancy cars, go on vacation, and fund his addiction to the Christian Coalition.

You can check your own state senator and/or representative at the Texas Ethics Commission. It's online.