| Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers has been ordered to pay a $1,600 fine after the Texas Ethics Commission determined he broke campaign laws on several occasions in 2005 and 2006. The TEC, based out of Austin, made its rare ruling based on a complaint lodged against Meyers, a Republican, by Susan Bankston, a long-time Democratic Party activist from Richmond.
The complaint boils down to Meyers' use of his political donations to pay off credit card bills without indicating what was charged on the cards.
“What he was doing was making credit card purchases, allegedly for his campaign,” said Bankston, in response to the ruling. “Then what he did was paid himself back from his campaign account. You can see where that can get crooked real quick: How do we know what he purchased was for the campaign?”
Report required by law
Meyers, as an elected official for the county, is required by law to file detailed reports of all political donations and expenditures at least every six months. These reports must indicate the name of all individuals and groups that give to his campaign, and he must report where all the money from his campaign has been spent, be it on a yard sign or printer's ink.
Meyers said corrected versions of his campaign finance reports do indicate those expenses - and he further noted he has actually not reimbursed all campaign expenses made on his personal credit card.
Meyers, a CPA, said the error in reporting derived from his use of software that was not compatible with his computer, saying he did not look closely enough at all his campaign reports prior to filing them.
“It was my error by not catching the omissions in the report. When I found out, it took me a while to find out what was happening,” Meyers explained. “I then downloaded the right software and corrected all the reports.”
Clearly improper, says TEC
The TEC in its ruling writes that elected officials and candidates to elected office may use a credit card to purchase items or services for an election effort, and they may furthermore pay off the corresponding credit card debt with funds from their campaign account - but the candidate must include in the paperwork what was purchased on the credit card.
“On the two reports at issue, the respondent disclosed the name of the credit card company and not the names or addresses of the vendors who actually received payment from the company for approximately $5,400 in political expenditures,” reads the TEC finding. “The improper recording was clear from the face of the reports.”
In her complaint to the TEC, Bankston also accused Meyers of violating election law with a $710.37 payment to the Sugar Creek Country Club for membership dues. However, Meyers contends the membership was for political purposes, and the TEC did not find against him on that matter.
Meyers agreed to the order on May 6 and signed off on the TEC statement, stating he “neither admits nor denies” the facts and findings against him.
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