Ethics Not State Rep. John Davis' Expertise

Uh oh. I found more dirt on John Davis, the Republican incumbent in HD-129. Davis paid himself $31,916.42 out of his campaign funds from 3/3/03 to 1/1/06 for "reimbursement of out of pocket expenses." You can do this. If you use your own money on your campaign, you can be reimbursed out of campaign funds. BUT, you must file certain schedules with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). If you fail to do this, you cannot go back and file an amended return.

Here's exactly what Schedule G from the TEC's Cash on Hand instructions says:

If you intend to seek reimbursement in any amount from political contributions for a political expenditure made from personal funds, you must either report the expenditure as a loan to yourself on Schedule E or itemize the expenditure on this schedule and check the box in Section 8 to indicate that you intend to seek reimbursement from political contributions. You may not correct a report to allow reimbursement.

So, no problem. You spend your own money. You either report it as a loan on Schedule E or itemize it all on Schedule G. John Davis did neither. He simply reported on his Campaign Finance Reports that he paid himself out of his campaign funds for "reimbursement of out of pocket expenses." Want to know the amounts? Would you believe one of these unexplained reimbursements to himself is for $13,000? Another for $5000? And another for $4680? One for $3800 (found in this report)? That's not even all of them. What was he thinking? $13,000 out of his campaign funds, paid to himself for WHAT?

To be honest, the Texas Ethics Commission instructions for how to report expenses reads like "How To Do The Exact Opposite Of What John Davis Did."

So, what is the penalty for this sort of illegal campaign finance activity? Here's an example where the TEC assessed a fine of $1000 on $1650 in improperly reported personal expenditures. This happened in March of 2006 and the respondent was Edwin Rinehart, Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner.

From the section of the order entitled "Facts Supported by Credible Evidence":

11. The third report still disclosed the reimbursement to the respondent in the amount of $1,650, but did not clearly disclose who was the actual payee, or payees of that expenditure.

12. The respondent provided no evidence that the reimbursement was for political expenditures made from personal funds that had been properly reported.

From "Findings and Conclusions of Law":

7. A candidate or officeholder who makes political expenditures from his or her personal funds may reimburse those personal funds from political contributions in the amount of the expenditures only if: (1) the expenditures from personal funds were fully reported as political expenditures on the report covering the period during which the expenditures were made; and (2) the report on which the expenditures from personal funds are disclosed clearly designates those expenditures as having been made from the person’s personal funds and that
the expenditures are subject to reimbursement. ELEC. CODE § 253.035(h).

9. The respondent’s January 2004 semiannual report disclosed a $1,650 reimbursement to the respondent. However, the respondent provided no evidence that political expenditures from personal funds were disclosed in a prior reporting period or in the January 2004 reporting period.

11. The respondent was not permitted to reimburse himself for the political expenditure from personal funds because he did not report the expenditure in the reporting period in which it was made and designate that the expenditure was subject to reimbursement. The respondent improperly reimbursed himself. Therefore, there is credible evidence of a violation of sections 253.035 and 254.031 (a)(3) of the Election Code.

If ethics are not his expertise what is? Definitely not education. So, what is John Davis good at? Give me a reason why he should be re-elected. Remember, a complaint HAS been filed with the TEC. I've got more digging to do.

And, yeah, that's him in jeans in the photo. At a meeting of business people. Looks like he is as sloppy with his attire as he is with his campaign finance reports.