Image 01 Image 03

Wendy Who? Fined 5k By Ethics Commission

Wendy Who? Fined 5k By Ethics Commission

Wendy Davis failed to disclose financial relationship to lobbyists.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150280120390094&set=pb.10150100007820094.-2207520000.1391733840.&type=3&theater

We don’t like to kick a loser when she’s down, but when this story appeared on Legal Insurrection’s radar we thought it was too good to keep to ourselves.

The pink sneaker wearing hope of progressives isn’t finished with her fall from grace.

Terri Langford of the Texas Tribune:

Wendy Davis Fined $5,000 for Ethics Violation

The Texas Ethics Commission has fined former state senator and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis $5,000 after finding “credible evidence” that she failed to include her relationship with two lobbyists on financial disclosure forms filed during her 2012 senate re-election campaign.

The commission issued an order detailing its findings and the fine on Thursday, nearly three years after a complaint was filed by Davis’ Republican opponent, Mark Shelton, who narrowly lost the election to Davis by 2 percentage points.

Shelton complained that Davis’ personal financial documents for 2010 and 2011 did not properly indicate that her law partner, Brian Newby, was a registered lobbyist. The firm’s unpaid executive director, Marcy Weldin Foster, was also a registered lobbyist in 2011, and that was not disclosed. The commission found Davis received fees for services from her own firm and another that she worked for “of counsel,” Cantey Hanger, in 2010 and 2011. Both firms paid Newby as a lobbyist, and Cantey Hanger paid Foster as a lobbyist.

What a shame. Just as she was getting ready to launch the next phase of her career.

Anna M. Tinsley of the Star-Telegram:

Wendy Davis to promote gender equality

After months of being out of the spotlight, Wendy Davis is back.

The former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, known nationwide for her 2013 filibuster against new abortion restrictions, is sparking speculation and garnering media attention as she alludes to a new initiative to promote gender equality that she hopes to soon unveil.

Davis told the Star-Telegram Tuesday that she’s not ready to detail her initiative, because it’s still in the planning stages, but she has said she hopes to bring more women’s voices into the political discussion.

“I hope to garner a cohesive force of women who can advance gender equality in a myriad of ways … and pull together women from all walks of life, all generations, all races, to use our power at the ballot box and elsewhere to drive change,” the former Fort Worth state senator told the Odessa American this week.

Tough luck for Wendy.

If she ever runs for office again, maybe she’ll choose better allies.

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Comments

sjf_control | May 14, 2015 at 8:59 am

Hopefully, the “next phase of her career” will involve the phrase “Didja want fries with that?”

Abortion Barbie aborts lobbyist disclosure!

The problem with election law violations is the slow pace of enforcement, and weak penalties. When they are resolved years later, the fines if any are paid from new donations, so no one is truly accountable. We run our elections on the Obama Administration model.

Why would it take three years to verify that yes, Wendy worked for and with these people, and yes, they are lobbyists, and no, she didn’t disclose it on the form she swore to and filed?

    MTED in reply to Estragon. | May 14, 2015 at 9:46 am

    “Why would it take three years to verify…?”

    Because she’s a democrat.

    Stan25 in reply to Estragon. | May 14, 2015 at 11:05 am

    A Republican would be in Club Fed by now.

    Sammy Finkelman in reply to Estragon. | May 14, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    Why would it take three years?

    First, they apparently don’t announce anything until they decide on the penalty.

    Second, it wasn’t so simple.

    The key thing probably was to establish that she personally benefitted financially, or should be considered to have benefitted financially, from her law partner’s lobbying activities, and that of her law firm’s unpaid executive director, Marcy Weldin Foster.

    It would have taken some time ro establish the basic facts, and then establish the exact nature of the facts and judge how serious a violation it was.

I had been very successful in forgetting about her… until now anyway. She is never going to go away is she…

    Ragspierre in reply to Joe Miller. | May 14, 2015 at 11:20 am

    Think of her as a decrepit, leaky tramp (see what I did there?) steamer hoving over the horizon.

    She’ll always be out there, but only as a hazard to navigation.

    When was the last time you heard of Sanda Fluck?

She is a pox on this country like Cankles is.

2nd Ammendment Mother | May 14, 2015 at 12:23 pm

Go for it…. make her an example of what happens when you run a crap candidate in Texas….. we will make you burn up Dem donor dollars and feed the ashes to you in a soup made from your tears and destroyed hopes and dreams!

Sorry…. had a campaign flashback hit me…..

Hard to believe Emily’s List didn’t snatch her right up, once she was available.

I hear Oprah has booked Wendy for the “Where Are They Now” series.

Sammy Finkelman | May 14, 2015 at 8:40 pm

It’ a pretty small penalty, by the way, and probably was negotiated.

Getting to an agreemnt on $5,000 probably took some time.

buckeyeminuteman | May 15, 2015 at 1:40 pm

So lobbying for the deaths of unborn boys and girls is now considered gender equality…