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Friday, March 9, 2001
Complaints will not be heard yet
Ethics commission may look into donation to Let Us Vote
By Samuel Segrist
Caller-Times
Any ethics complaint filed against the dissolved political group Let Us Vote won't even be reviewed until the day before the April election on Packery Channel, the State Ethics Commission said Thursday.
   The commission has not confirmed yet if there's any investigation into the group for a $9,624.55 contribution made by a donor whose name has not yet been disclosed by group leaders. The commission does not comment on any investigation as a standard procedure, said general counsel Karen Lundquist.
   But Padre Island resident and businesswoman Gladys Choyke said that she had sent a complaint to the commission earlier in the week, and understood that the package had been delivered. Choyke said there's nothing much to do now on the complaint except wait and see.
   "It's a bureaucracy, so I wasn't surprised at the length of the procedure," she said.
   Choyke decided to file a complaint after hearing that Let Us Vote leader Chuck Spencer had turned in a campaign contributions report listing himself as making a donation worth more than $9,500. Spencer said he had received an unsolicited, unrestricted gift from a donor who wished to remain anonymous.
   The donation gave a major boost to the campaign to force a vote on the dredging of Packery Channel. The group was able to combine volunteers with hired block walkers to collect more than 8,000 signatures for a petition. The group's petition succeeded in forcing a vote on the existence of a special taxing district created to pay the city's part of the Packery Channel dredging project.
   State law requires political contributions over $50 to be itemized with the donor's identity.
   The Texas Ethics Commission can also file a civil case against the group, and the commission can impose a fine up to three times the amount of the undisclosed donation, Lundquist said.
   "The bottom line is that when money comes into a political committee, it has to be reported," she said, adding that it was possible for some contributors to remain anonymous, depending on what the donation was originally intended for.
   "Everything really depends on the agreement that was originally made or the understanding between the two parties," she said.
   Spencer said Thursday that he had not heard anything about the complaint from the Ethics Commission and that he still maintained his original argument: Since the gift was given with no strings attached, he did not have to reveal the name.
   Regardless of the outcome, the election will be long over before any ruling can be given. If commission administrators find no problem with Choyke's complaint, the eight-member commission will first review the file on April 6.
   Further investigations and rulings could take anywhere between three to six months to complete, she said. Meanwhile, Island resident Jim Snyder said he also planned to file a complaint on the same issue next week with the Ethics Commission. Snyder said he regularly gave to campaigns and thought it crucial that contributors reveal who they are. Bill Kopecky, who was a member of Let Us Vote and is running against Mayor Loyd Neal, predicted that the complaint would fizzle out during the state's investigation, if the state decides to investigate.
   "I doubt if anything is really going to come of it," he said.

Staff writer Samuel Segrist can be reached at 886-3764 or by e-mail at segrists@caller.com

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