The city’s bruising election season comes to an end Saturday with a runoff in the District 7 City Council race, but the Ethics Review Commission’s work continues as it considers another round of the season’s ethics violation complaints.
So far, the commission has dismissed two complaints and agreed to move forward with final hearings on two other complaints.
On Thursday, in a continuation of a hearing held last month, the commission voted down a motion by Luis Figueroa finding Mayor Kirk Watson’s reelection campaign in violation of exceeding the contribution threshold from donors residing outside Austin ZIP codes. Figueroa was the lone vote in favor.
Commissioners Brian McGiverin, Nguyen Stanton-Adams, Mary Kahle and Amy Casto voted against the motion, and William Ross Pumfrey abstained. Only those commissioners were eligible to vote on the matter because they were present for the Nov. 13 hearing. Commissioner Ed Espinoza, a Watson appointee on the commission, was recused from the proceeding.
On Dec. 5, the commission agreed to dismiss a similar allegation filed against mayoral candidate Doug Greco. Betsy Greenberg, a former member of the ethics commission, filed both complaints against Watson and Greco, but later withdrew her complaint against Greco.
Greco unsuccessfully sued the city on grounds that the contribution threshold violated donors’ constitutional rights.
Despite Greenberg’s withdrawal of the complaint, Commissioner Adam Materne argued that the commission still had the authority to determine if a violation occurred. Instead, commissioners voted 7-1 to dismiss the case altogether.
In a statement released after the Dec. 5 dismissal, Greco thanked the commission and Greenberg for dropping the complaint. He continued, “As I had initially promised, we sequestered and did not spend the money pending the federal lawsuit that I initiated, and since the courts did not rule on the constitutionality, we returned over 90 donations worth over $8,000.”
Back to Thursday’s meeting, the commission also heard preliminary hearings on separate complaints concerning late filings of two Council candidates’ personal financial statements.
Incoming District 10 Council Member Marc Duchen filed a complaint against his opponent, Ashika Ganguly, for failure to timely file her personal financial information, a requirement of all candidates.
Outgoing District 6 Council Member Mackenzie Kelly filed a similar complaint against Council Member-elect Krista Laine. Neither Ganguly nor Laine was present for the hearing.
Austin attorney Bill Aleshire, representing both Duchen and Kelly, laid out the allegations in both cases, stating that the two respondents were a month late filing their personal financial statements with the city clerk.
Aleshire extended a challenge to the commission “as to whether or not you’re going to enforce the law requiring personal financial statements to be filed timely, especially during an election where the voters get to see that information … well in advance of the election itself.”
He added that late filings of personal financial statements have become more common over the last several years.
“You must decide whether or not you’re going to take these violations seriously, and even though they’re outside the normal process that you have for measured responses, it’s a criminal offense,” he said of the class C misdemeanor. “It is time to make an example so that other candidates in the future will know … that this commission considers this to be a serious violation and one deserving of further action.”
Aleshire reminded the commission that it has authority to refer such violations to the city attorney’s office for prosecution.
With little discussion, the commission unanimously voted to move both cases to a final hearing, set for Jan. 22. Kahle recused herself from Duchen’s complaint, and Chair Michael Lovins recused himself from Kelly’s complaint. Lovins serves as Kelly’s appointee on the commission.
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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.
