| ► Judge George Hanks of Houston; moron, scofflaw, ethical gremlin |
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Judge George Hanks of Houston; moron, scofflaw, ethical gremlin
Judge George Hanks sits on the 1st Court of Appeals in Houston. Previously he was a District Court Judge.
Judge George Hanks is the quintessential “joiner” in that since 2003 he has paid dues to join twenty (20) different organizations. Of course Judge George Hanks didn’t personally pay any of the dues to join any of these organizations because he used campaign funds to do it.
I’ve known quite a few lawyers and judges over the years, and I don’t know of anyone that would personally expend thousands of dollars to join twenty (20) disparate organizations.
Judge George Hanks and D.C. Bar Association Dues
From 2003 through June 2009, Judge George Hanks has used campaign funds to pay annual dues to belong to the Washington D.C. Bar Association.
The Texas Ethics Commission ruled many years ago that a judge could use campaign funds to pay mandatory annual Texas Bar dues. This decision was predicated on the fact that since Texas law required that a judge be a member of the State Bar that said conduct was a permissible use of campaign funds.
Nothing in Texas law mandated that Judge George Hanks be a member of the D.C. Bar Association. This conduct was clearly voluntary and has absolutely nothing to do with Judge George Hanks’ official Texas judicial duties nor does it relate in any way to legitimate campaign activities since D.C. residents are not allowed to vote in judicial elections in Houston.
Judge George Hanks and the Nat’l Bar Association
From 2003 through May 2009, Judge George Hanks has used campaign funds to pay $1,550 in dues to belong to the National Bar Association. This is yet another voluntary act by Judge George Hanks and has absolutely nothing to do with the performance of his official judicial duties nor doe sit relate to legitimate campaign activities. The dues paid by Judge George Hanks to be a member of the Nat’l Bar Associatio
 n are listed below.
Why did Judge George Hanks pay $400 in dues in 2004? Was he paying annual dues on behalf of someone else? Also, how does Judge George Hanks explain paying $300 in dues in 2005 and then only $200 for 2006 and 2007? Something is fishy here, right? Did Judge George Hanks pay membership dues for someone else? If he did that would clearly be illegal?
Miscellaneous Dues paid by Judge George Hanks
In addition to the dues Judge George Hanks paid as set forth above, he also used campaign funds to pay membership dues to the following:
The main reason that Judge George Hanks joined the majority of these clubs was so that he would have an excuse to attend annual conferences, which would provide him with numerous opportunities to enjoy vacations being paid for by his contributors.
Of course while Judge George Hanks was gallivanting around the country/world on vacations paid for by his contributors, he was also hosing Texas taxpayers because he was being paid for judicial services he obviously was not rendering. Is Texas a great country or what?
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