Ethics

San Antonio council members will consider action Thursday that would absolve Mayor Ivy Taylor from a perceived conflict that arose during her political campaign. 

Ethics Reform was touted by both Candidate Abbott and now Governor Abbott as a priority for Texas' 84th legislature. The Governor's comments gave hope to ethics reform advocates that dark money groups would be forced to disclose their donors, conflicts of interests would be outed in state contracts, and the revolving door of legislators becoming lobbyists would be stymied.

The message from one former chairman and now commissioner, for the Texas Ethics Commission is that the state has an ethics emergency.

Writing in a letter to current TEC Chairman Paul Hobby, Commissioner Jim Clancy pointed to the recent ruling by a Denton judge nullifying TEC fines against Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans as proof the TEC needs to shut down campaign finance and lobbying cases until the issue is resolved in the courts.

With the availability of smart phones paired with the ease of recording, we have seen secret and embarrassing recordings of many come to light.

Public officials both nationally and locally have been put on the defensive over comments they thought were private, and the nation has reeled from phone video recordings of police brutality. It seems you can't go anywhere without the possibility of being recorded.