KHOU Exposes State Rep. John Davis' Ethics Violations

Lee McGuire, political reporter at Ch. 11 News Houston, did a segment yesterday on the Texas Ethics Commission investigation of State Representative John Davis for possible campaign finance violations. McGuire is asking what happened to nearly $100,000 in campaign donations.

He tracked Davis' campaign finance reports for the past six years. McGuire comments that unlike most members of the Texas House, Davis is unusually vague about what happens to much of his campaign cash.

Texas Ethics Commission rules are clear. If you report an expenditure, you have to give an explanation of what that money was spent on.

He found this example:

$5490 in miscellaneous expenses with no explanation

McGuire found

$48,734 in American Express charges with no explanation as to what the card actually purchased.

A citizen discovered these violations and sent in an official complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission. The TEC sent Davis a letter announcing an investigation, asking him to supply copies of the American Express bills in questions. Davis says he is complying.

In Davis' campaign finance reports, McGuire found John Davis paying John Davis reimbursements for out of pocket expenses. The ethics rules are clear. If a candidate reimburses himself from campaign cash, he has to explain what he spent the money on and why he deserves to be reimbursed for that.

Davis does not do that.

McGuire discovered that

over six years, Davis reports $50,135 in out of pocket reimbursement with no explanation.

Davis did not want to go on camera, but on phone, he told McGuire, "I made a mistake, and we'll get it corrected. It's incumbent on me to know what the rules are."

He says all of the expenses are for legitimate campaign or legislative purposes.

Candidates can be fined if they fail to properly report campaign finance information, according to an attorney for the Texas Ethics Commission. Under the statute of limitations, the TEC can only investigate the past two years of financial reports.

Sherrie Matula, Davis' opponent in the HD-129 race was interviewed on camera for this story. She emphasized that the Clear Lake area is ready for real community representation. She is the person who will do that.

In July 2003, Texas Monthly declared John Davis "furniture", saying "the term "furniture" describes members who, by virtue of their indifference or inactivity, were indistinguishable from their desks, chairs, and spittoons."

Davis, a Republican, has represented the Clear Lake area for 8 years.

My past blog posts, with documentation of much of what McGuire uncovered on Davis' ethics violations can be found here, here, here and here. I was not the person who sent in the complaint to the TEC, but bravo to the person who did.

UPDATE: KHOU has the story up on their website, with video!