The Texas Ethics Commission has fined District 32 state Rep. Juan Garcia of Corpus Christi a total of $1800 for numerous violations of the Texas Election Code according to a report on the Ethics Commission website.The violations were first reported in a complaint by former Nueces County Republican Party Chairman Joel Yowell who said that Texans should expect the complete truth in reporting contributions from those who seek to represent them in public office.
The violations and order in case SC-270453 are filed on the Texas Ethics Commission website at www.ethics.state.tx.us under the Sworn Complaint Open Orders section. The order came following a December 11 meeting in which commissioners considered the complaints against the Garcia campaign.
“One of the most serious findings by the Commission was a result of the hundreds of thousands of dollars the so-called Good Government PAC put into Mr. Garcia’s campaign” said Mike Bertuzzi chair of the Nueces County Republican party. “Mr. Garcia and his cronies apparently felt they were above the law and didn’t want Texans to know that his election was bought and paid for by liberal trial lawyers.”
The Good Government PAC which is no longer in operation was funded by contributions from attorneys such as former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mikal Watts a Corpus Christi and San Antonio attorney and Mauricio Celis one of Garcia’s biggest individual contributors who is under indictment on several felony charges including perjury impersonating a public servant and falsely claiming to be an attorney.
Among the findings of the Ethics Commission:
• In at least 24 cases Rep. Garcia did not comply with best efforts requirements of the Election Code to identify each contributor’s principal occupation job title and the full name of the individual’s employer
• Rep Garcia failed to include required information for two contributions from out-of-state committees.
• Rep. Garcia filed a contribution report after the deadline.
• Rep. Garcia failed to report political contributions of at least $12500 from the Good Government PAC.
“Mr. Garcia had a responsibility to his constituents to report his contributions correctly” said former Nueces County GOP Chair Joel Yowell. “He failed at that task. The plain and simple truth is: Mr. Garcia and his campaign broke the law and now they will have to face the consequences … and the voters.”
