A complaint has been lodged against District 10 City Council candidate Robert Thomas. According to a campaign finance report filed with the Austin City Clerk on July 15, Thomas loaned his campaign $100,000 in June. The rules require that any expenditures from personal funds of $25,000 or more must be reported within seven business days. Democratic precinct chair Steve Speir filed a complaint against Thomas on Wednesday for failing to report his expenditures within the required time frame. Thomas loaned himself the money June 19. He had numerous, relatively small expenditures during May and June. However, on July 1, he paid Stampede Consulting $30,684, which was not reported until Aug. 15, according to the city website. Speir told the Monitor that failure to follow the rules “gives an unfair advantage to one guy, and I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the 10-1 program, (which was) passed to diminish the impact of large amounts of money.” Speir does not live in District 10 and said he does not have a preferred candidate in the race. Thomas did not return a call requesting comment.
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor. More by Jo Clifton