Ethics complaint has not been filed in education race

In the story "Contribution sparks state board campaign", printed in Thursday's edition, it is stated that an ethics complaint was filed against Republican State Board of Education candidate Tony Dale of Austin. Dale is running against Cynthia Dunbar of Richmond in the Republican primary for the District 10 seat, which includes Fort Bend County in its jurisdiction.

However, the man credited with filing the report, political activist A.D. Muller of Katy, said Thursday afternoon he had not done so, but intended to. He alleges that a brochure created by Dale's campaign failed to include a statement of its funding source, in violated of Texas election laws.

An e-mail was sent to the Fort Bend Herald this week, titled "Ethics Complaint Lodged Against SBOE Candidate Tony Dale," stating in the body of its text that Muller "will" file a complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission.

Any complaint issued to the Texas Ethics Commission is considered confidential until an investigation is pursued and the agency issues an open order for it to become public record, said one official. The agency does contact the accused candidate or public official within five business days.

Dale said on Thursday officials with the Texas Ethics Commission never contacted him.

"Everything my campaign has done has been reported on our finance reports. If we made a mistake we will take responsibility for it," he told the Fort Bend Herald.