Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Democrat State Representative Carol Kent received reimbursements worth thousands of dollars from campaign accounts and the state according to a report by a California-based watchdog group. If the state is giving you money to cover your expenses in Austin you should have the integrity not to have your campaign pay the expense too said Stefani Carter a former prosecutor and the GOP nominee in Texas House District 102 outside of Dallas.
Dave Palmer an ethics watchdog reported that Texas paid Kents reimbursements for lodging expenses while Kent also sought $4150 in expense compensation from her campaign account funded by donors to her campaign.
Double-dipping is wrong said Stefani Carter a former prosecutor and GOP nominee in District 102.
Pocketing the money is stealing from taxpayers said Carter.
Palmer believes Kent committed fraud when the State defrayed costs for which the campaign already paid according to Palmers report which alleges Kent violated federal law Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code §162.
Tax expert and professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas Lillian Mills quoted in a Houston Chronicle story said that per diem pay generally is not taxable
But you cant then use the same amount of expense to avoid paying tax on some other reimbursement like a draw out of that campaign fund. There may be a free lunch but there are no second tax helpings.
The issue has snagged legislators around the state. Incumbent legislators in San Antonio and Houston and have recently been caught or admitted similar practices as the investigation has now expanded to the DFW Metroplexarea. Editorials and stories from around the state include:- San Antonio Express News Editorial - Pocketing per diem troubling
- Houston Chronicle news story
If Kent were serious about solving Texas budget problems the first thing she should do is not double dip on taxpayer dollars" Carter said.
Kent was elected by one of the narrowest margins in the state in 2008 benefiting from the Obama candidacys wave in a historically Republican district.
