| ► Texas Watchdog – 02/11/11 - Only Texans could file ethics complaint under Rep. Ken Legler’s plan |
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Texas Watchdog – 02/11/11 - Only Texans could file ethics complaint under Rep. Ken Legler’s plan Only Texans could file ethics complaints under Rep. Ken Legler's plan; Legler among lawmakers accused of double-billing by Calif. activist
Friday, Feb 11, 2011, 11:43AM CST
By Mark Lisheron
Rep. Ken Legler has set out to redefine the venerable, fast-moving and conclusive method of dispute settlement, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Legler's version is called Ethics Complaint, Bill and guess which one tops which.
Last summer Legler, a Pasadena Republican, was one of 34 Houston and San Antonio-area lawmakers accused by Dave Palmer, a Fresno, Calif. blogger, of illegally keeping hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money by billing both the state and their campaign accounts for the same travel and lodging expenses. At the time Palmer said he filed a complaint outlining his charges with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Although there is no record of an open complaint under Legler's name, according to Tim Sorrels, deputy general counsel for the Ethics Commission, and there is no record of disposition of an order pertaining to Palmer's complaint, Legler has filed a bill that would prohibit anyone not living in or owning property in Texas from filing an ethics complaint.
According to a San Antonio Express-News blog, House Bill 1036 compels the Ethics Commission to dismiss complaints when, at any point, it is determined that the person filing it is not from the Lone Star State.
Take that, paper and scissors. You, too, rock.
At the time, Palmer said he had calculated that Legler and the 33 lawmakers in question had each claimed at least $23,520 in state expense per diems, a system he likened to outright fraud. Texas Watchdog this morning contacted Palmer through his website, The Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Judges, Attorneys and Public Officials, to ask him about the status of his ethics complaint and about Legler's bill. We are awaiting comment and will update this post if we hear from him.
Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or
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