I am
at a complete loss
this week on where
to get started.
There are so many
areas I’d like to
discuss and write
about, but so little
time to do so.
I was
all set to write a
humorous column
about something or
another that I
thought was funny
and would entertain
you but got
sidetracked by what
you are about to
read.
These
past couple of weeks
I have been harping
on the legislature
of our wonderful
state of
Texas
as they all seem to
have a bad case of
amnesia when it
comes to honesty to
us, the taxpayers.
Here’s the story for
this week.
It
seems a number of
our esteemed members
of the legislature
have been paying
their wives with
campaign
contributions. One
of the legislature
members (Rob Eissler)
decided that what he
was doing was wrong
and repaid $52,000
to his campaign.
Another member (Carl
Islett) had been
paying a company
owned jointly by
both he and his
wife. When
confronted with the
possible violation
of the rules of the
ethics commission,
the wife formed
another company and
continued to be
paid. The sources
says that the
company they owned
jointly was paid
$36,000 for work
done over 2 ½ years.
The company the wife
formed by herself
was paid $39,158 for
last year’s work.
This amount is about
½ of all of the
funds the house
member collected for
the year. What a
deal. Sounds to me
like the company
they both owned was
a better bargain.
The
state prohibits
lawmakers from
paying themselves,
their wives or their
dependent children
out of campaign
funds. This was
intended to stop
legislators from
living off funds
often donated by
various lobbying
groups.
Islett’s wife is a
CPA and says that
her fees are normal
and are in line with
other clients. I’ve
hired accountants in
the past but can’t
think of any that
charged me 50% of
the revenue I
received, just for
keeping track of the
revenue. Seems to be
a tad high if you
ask me, but what do
I know?
The
house member went on
to elaborate by
saying that in
addition to keeping
the ‘books’ for his
campaign, she also
writes thank you
notes, maintains a
database of donors
and files reports to
the ethics
commission. She also
had to re-enter all
of the data lost on
her computer which I
suppose came as a
result of it
crashing. If she is
a CPA, was she
absent the day they
warned about make
backups to all of
your data? Let’s
give her the benefit
of the doubt, and
say she was sick.
Poor thing.
Oh,
and she says a lot
of her time is taken
up responding to
requests from the
Ethics Commission.
I’d bet that one
might be valid.
But
what I am confused
about is the fact
that House member
Islett also paid one
of his daughters for
secretarial
services. Now, I
might be wrong but
wouldn’t secretarial
services include
such things as
writing thank you
letters for
donations and
maintaining a
database of your
donors? She also got
a $3,756 commission
for doing some
fundraising. Makes
you wonder how that
commission figure
was arrived at,
doesn’t it?
I
applaud our citizens
who wish to give
their time to be our
representatives, but
come on, give us a
break. All of us
aren’t stupid, we
can see through this
kind of stuff. When
you graduate from
college and print
those slick campaign
brochures that we
get daily when you
are in the campaign
mode, they don’t say
that you are naïve
and or mentally
challenged. No, they
tell us how many
degrees you have,
what a successful
business you have
operated or owned
and a variety of
other plaudits to
make us think you
are the smartest and
brightest to ever
come down the pike.
Then
you get your hands
caught in the cookie
jar and you respond
with some lame
excuse such as …. “I
didn’t know this is
what the law
actually meant…” or
as in the case of
Islett who says…
“You never know you
might be doing
something wrong
…until someone files
a complaint.” If Al
Capon had a better
attorney, he could
have used that one…
“I didn’t know you
had to pay tax…no
one ever actually
told me…”
Come
on now, you can do
better than that.
After all you’re a
true live member of
the house of the
representatives for
this great state of
ours. Give us an
excuse we can
believe …something
like…. “I’m actually
an alien from the
planet Zenon and I’m
not familiar with
any sort of ethics
rules….we don’t have
ethics where I come
from”
I can
believe that easier
than what you have
told us. Much
easier.
