A former member of the city’s Ethics Review Commission, Betsy Greenberg, has filed ethics complaints against Mayor Kirk Watson and one of his challengers, Doug Greco. In her complaints, Greenberg alleges that both candidates collected more money from outside the city of Austin than is allowed under the city charter.
The Austin Bulldog reported on the complaints last week.
Greenberg wrote in her complaint that the Watson campaign received more than the $46,000 allowed by the charter “from sources other than natural persons eligible to vote in a postal ZIP code completely or partially within the Austin city limits.” According to the complaint, the Watson campaign reported exceeding the legal limit by $22,105 in its campaign finance report filed on June 30. The mayor has reported total contributions of more than $710,000.
On Monday, the Austin Monitor reached out to Joe Cascino, Watson’s campaign manager, who said, “We are confident that we acted within code and that Ms. Greenberg is wrong. We looked at it and will be responding in an ethics hearing.” He declined to provide more details. Many of Watson’s contributions came from other parts of Texas.
The Bulldog reported that campaign consultant David Butts said the Watson campaign had already returned money to some of the non-Austin contributors. Butts could not be reached for further comment on Monday.
Attorney Bill Aleshire pointed out to the Monitor that Greenberg considered contributions only from people whose ZIP codes were entirely outside Austin city limits. Some ZIP codes include both people who are eligible to vote in Austin and others who are not.
Greenberg said she looked at Greco’s campaign finance report and immediately thought there was a problem because so many of Greco’s contributions came from outside the city of Austin. A notable number of those contributions came from individuals in Florida, Los Angeles and Pennsylvania. His total from outside the city exceeded the limit by $6,246, according to Greenberg’s calculations. He also received questionable contributions from two entities, the Austin Eagle and Rain on 4th, which are bars, not individual donors. He reported raising $88,334 in contributions, more than either Kathie Tovo or Carmen Llanes Pulido.
Greco said Monday, “I’m proud to be the top fundraiser among the challengers, and as an Austin former teacher and community organizer I raised money from friends, colleagues, family and classmates, and reported every penny of it. We are also learning this is a hotly contested legal issue because the rule favors well-funded incumbents, so our legal team is looking into its constitutionality. We understand the complainant is a donor to one of my challengers whose campaign has been under scrutiny for misappropriate spending, so it’s also political.”
Greenberg said she supports Llanes Pulido in the mayoral race.
Both of Greenberg’s complaints were to be delivered to Michael Lovins, chair of the Ethics Review Commission, for his review. She noted that the complaint filed against District 7 candidate Mike Siegel had not yet been heard by the commission, which is scheduled to meet again on Aug. 28.
So regardless of what the city’s rules say about scheduling a speedy hearing on such complaints, it is not clear when they might hold such a hearing.
Greenberg said she hopes the candidates “would fix this before they come to the commission. … I’m not looking for anybody to go to jail.”
If a person is charged with violating the law, which is a class C misdemeanor, they may be facing a fine but not jail time. The commission does not have the authority to levy a fine but may issue a letter indicating its disapproval.
Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.
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City of Austin Ethics Review Commission: The Ethics Review Commission is charged with review of, among other issues, ethics complaints leveled against City of Austin boards and commission members. They meet quarterly.
