Incumbent Kirk Watson and challenger Doug Greco may soon hit a snag in their respective bids for mayor, with the Ethics Review Commission investigating claims that both broke the same campaign finance law.
The complaints, filed by former Commissioner Betsy Greenberg, allege that the candidates exceeded the $46,000 limit on donations sourced from outside the city of Austin’s constituency. Donation records attached to Greenberg’s filings show Watson exceeding this limit by $22,105 and Greco by $6,246.
City Attorney Caroline Webster says the Law Department will hire counsel outside of the city of Austin for the two cases, as is standard practice with complaints levied against sitting City Council members. Though Greco is not a member of Council, Webster says the cases’ parallel allegations and timing should be handled uniformly.
“What we’re concerned about it is a conflict of interest,” Webster said. “If I were advising you all on (Greco) and gave you different advice than your outside counsel, that would be problematic. I can’t be in a position of answering a legal question that you could apply to Mayor Watson’s case.”
The filing against Watson also alleges the mayor committed similar infractions during the nail-biting runoff election against Celia Israel in 2022. Such runoffs have a $30,000 cap on donations sourced outside of Austin, and donation records show Watson exceeding that limit by $25,550. Records show $14,750 of that amount came from PO boxes within Austin city limits but not on the city clerk’s list of voting-eligible postal codes.
The Ethics Review Commission will hold a preliminary hearing on the two cases at its next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 25. In the meantime, candidates Greco, Kathie Tovo, Carmen Llanes Pulido and newcomer Jeffery Bowen will continue mounting their challenges to the incumbent mayoral campaign.
Following the publication of this article, Greco reached out to the Monitor with a statement:
“I’ve been an Austin teacher, community organizer and LGBTQ advocate for most of my adult life and was required to resign my job to run for Mayor, so I shouldn’t be denied the ability to run a grassroots fundraising campaign with friends, family, and supporters inside and outside of Austin,” he wrote. “Like the majority of Austinites, I came here by choice, and my cousin in Fort Worth has no less of a right to donate than another candidate’s cousin from West Austin. Because this rule denies free speech to many citizens and unfairly favors incumbents who can discourage donations to opponents as well as wealthy candidates who can loan their campaign money without limits, we believe it is unconstitutional and if necessary we will fight it.”
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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.
