Details about this story

• Source: Houston Chronicle
• Date: December 02, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Chase Davis
• Topics: Campaign Finance
• Data Types: Local Data
• Description/Excerpt: With their war chests swelling and challengers nowhere to be found, the five members of Harris County Commissioners Court have spent more than $2.3 million in campaign cash the past two years on everything from charitable donations to clothing and rare books. In doing so, some may have run afoul of state laws designed to make their campaign spending transparent to their constituents, according to experts and a Houston Chronicle review of Texas Ethics Commission complaints since 1992. In filings dating to January 2006, several commissioners, most notably Steve Radack and Jerry Eversole, disclosed some campaign expenses in ways similar to those that have led to fines for other Texas politicians. For example: Hundreds of campaign expenses, particularly Eversole's, were labeled with vague descriptions such as "public relations" and "misc." — sweeping designations that encompass everything from meals to purchases at boutique gift shops and typically offer little clues as to what was purchased or who benefited from those purchases. Dozens of reimbursements made to office workers from several commissioners' campaigns, most frequently Radack's, did not detail the purpose of those payments.
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