TPJ files complaint against Dewhurst

Remember Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's too-cute non-disclosure of his trust fund? Well, Texans for Public Justice have filed a complaint with Travis County Attorney David Escamilla over the Dew's lack of forthrightness. From their press release:

Under Texas law public officials with non-blind trusts have certain disclosure obligations. Namely, they must list in their personal financial statement every asset in the trust that earns more than $500 a year. TPJ believes that Dewhurst's trust, which is a non-blind trust earning more than $25,000 per year, likely contains assets that are earning more than the disclosure threshold of $500 per year.

"The Dewhurst Trust is blind to the public but not to the Lt. Governor," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice. "The Lt. Governor should fulfill his disclosure obligations under the law. One of the most powerful state officials should not be allowed to hide his assets from the public. When you're the Lt. Governor, the public has an absolute right to know how many cattle or other assets you own. It's time for Lt. Governor Dewhurst to drive his cattle out of the shadows and into the sunlight."

The Chron story, with some more detail about Dewhurst's finances and another limp rationalization from him, which as far as I can tell boils down to "I have too much money to be able to keep track of it all", is here. You can read the release here and the complaint here. I usually don't have a lot of faith in these things, but at least it's not the Texas Ethics Commission in charge, so there is at least the chance something may happen.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 05, 2008 to Show Business for Ugly People