| ► Monitor – Edinburg, TX - 09/03/09 - Ethics panel: Judge fined over misspect cash |
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Monitor – Edinburg, Texas - Sept. 3, 2009 - Ethics panel: Judge fined over misspect cash By Jeremy Roebuck -
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The Monitor
EDINBURG — A Texas ethics panel has ordered state District Judge Mario Ramirez to pay back nearly $4,000 in campaign contributions it says he improperly spent on personal items and services.
The judge allegedly used cash from his political supporters for family events at the McAllen Country Club, a gym membership and shirts, suits and ties from a Florida clothier, according to findings the Texas Ethics Commission reported last week. He must also pay a $900 civil fine in addition to the money refunded to his campaign coffers.
"All of the expenses complained of … were made to defer ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with activities as a candidate … or public office holder," said Ramirez in a statement included in the commission’s report.
The investigation into the judge’s spending stems from a 2005 complaint filed by California-based, self-financed government watchdog David Palmer.
Palmer — who runs the Web site www.noethics.net and calls himself an "equal opportunity exposer" — says he has targeted more than 50 legislators, attorneys and judges from across Texas in the past, including state Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, Cameron County state District Judge Migdalia Lopez and Cameron County Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza.
"The judge is in good company," said Ramirez’s attorney, Ray Thomas, referring to Palmer’s other targets. "Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, these are good judges."
In the statement, Ramirez admitted that approximately $800 of the $3,910 in highlighted expenses — including a membership to Cornerstone Fitness Center — had been mistakenly drawn from his campaign coffers between 2005 and 2008.
Palmer also accused Ramirez of misspending another $34,000 on items such as season tickets to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, a doctor’s visit to San Antonio and dry cleaning for his judicial robes and other clothing that became "soiled while performing public duties." But the commission did not find sufficient evidence to prove those expenditures were not campaign related.
Ramirez explained the basketball tickets as something he gives away to reward active campaign volunteers and contributors.
"When I do attend a game, it is typically with my staff or supporters," he said in the report. "(It) is one of the best places in the county to campaign."
The San Antonio trip was mislabeled and should have been recorded in his campaign finance forms as a visit to a judicial conference in the city, he said. And an annual membership to The Club at Cimarron — a private country club in Mission — which also drew the scrutiny of investigators, had been purchased to host campaign fundraisers as well as for dining and golfing with constituents, according to the report.
"Judge Ramirez has always faithfully filed his campaign reports and has never had any other complaint filed against him with the ethics commission," his attorney Thomas said.
First elected to the bench of Hidalgo County’s 332nd state District Court in 1983, Ramirez won his last re-election bid last year in an uncontested race.
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