Democrat chairman: Primary funds misused

The county Democratic Party filed complaints Friday with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office and the Texas Ethics Commission claiming the county Republican Party had misused campaign funds.

Lloyd Criss, the chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party, claims the county Republican Party transferred about $1,000 from an account dedicated to paying for March’s party primary election to its general election campaign effort.

Mingling funds intended for noncampaign uses with campaign accounts violates the law, Criss said.

“That money comes from the state (secretary of state) to run the primary; it can’t be used for campaign purposes,” Criss said.

Galveston County Republican Party Chairman John LeCour called Criss’ accusations “a desperate act from a desperate man,” and claimed any irregularities in the reporting were mistakes that easily could be corrected and not some sinister plot to misuse state or campaign dollars.

While not able to comment on Criss’ complaint directly, secretary of state spokesman Randall Dillard confirmed the funds cannot be transferred.

“If a party has a primary finance account supported with state funds, they cannot transfer funds to an account to support a campaign or other party activities,” Dillard said in an e-mail. “If it was an account to support party activities and they transferred funds to a campaign account, it may be a question for the ethics commission.”

The primary account is in part supported by state funds to assist the political parties to conduct the primary elections.

Unspent funds, minus $50 to keep the account open, are supposed to be sent back to the state, according to the state election code.

Criss first made the allegations to The Daily News on Thursday and said the party planned to file a complaint Friday. He pointed to Rule 81.109 of the state election code that restricts the use of primary funds.

“Only expenses necessary for and directly related to the conduct of primary elections are payable from primary funds,” the section titled Political-Party Costs not Payable with Primary Funds, reads.

On June 8, the Galveston County Republican Party donated $1,044.23 from its primary account to its general campaign fund, according to the Republican Party’s campaign finance reports.

LeCour said the $1,044 from the party’s primary account was to reimburse the local party for two-thirds of the overhead expenses to run the party’s headquarter offices in League City, which is allowed. He said it was an oversight that it was not noted on the campaign finance report as a legitimate reimbursement and not a contribution.

“The state picked up one-third of the costs and that ($1,044) was the remaining two-thirds,” LeCour said.

LeCour said he noted the other discrepancies found in the report and chalked them up to having a new campaign treasurer. He said Gina Gentile took over as the party’s treasurer midway through the year and made a few mistakes in the campaign reports.

“She was really new to all of this and hadn’t had the full training,” LeCour said. “Plus, she had never had to deal with the ethics commission before, so this was all new to her.”

Criss said he found other questionable donations, including a $1,500 contribution from Talon Aviation, which is owned by Mark Henry, the party’s candidate for county judge. While a corporation can make a contribution to a political party, it is supposed to be listed on a separate campaign finance form and those funds cannot be mingled with the party’s campaign activities.

The contribution is listed on the Galveston County Republican Party’s general campaign contribution form and not the corporate donation form as the Texas Ethics Commission says is required. Those funds also are not supposed to be used for campaign activities, but rather general noncampaign related expenses, according to the ethics commission guide.

“Our focus was to get (reports) turned in on time,” LeCour. “I will say that all the money we took in and spent is open to the public to review, and that’s what matters.”

Those mistakes included the listing of Henry’s company as a donor when it should have been the candidate’s campaign. He was working with his staff to create an amended report to correct any mistakes.

Criss said the complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission will include that donation as well as accusations the Republican Party is not accurately identifying contributors. The Democratic Party chair noted that on several contribution listings, the occupation of the donor is not listed as required.

A review of the Republican Party filings show that many of its donors have their occupations listed as “unknown.” Even Henry’s occupation is listed as unknown under his contribution of $500 to the party.

LeCour then released a series of campaign finance complaints filed against county Democratic organizations that were filed during the summer. The Daily News was unable to confirm if the ethics commission had made any rulings on any of the complaints LeCour provided.

Criss, in turn, called his Republican counterpart the desperate one.

“And you wait,” Criss said. “We’ll see Nov. 2 just how desperate he is.”

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