Could Senators Brimer & Nelson be next?

Now that former Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, has been fined $10,000 for allegedly violating campaign finance laws, the Democratic group that filed the complaint against him in the first place is hinting that it might soon target Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville.

Goodman, who says he did nothing wrong and plans to appeal the ruling, relied on the same 1996 Ethics opinion -- known around the capitol as the "Brimer loophole" -- to rent property from his spouse. But the Ethics Commission ruling said that the old opinion did not cover the facts of his individual situation.

“In light of the Ethics Commssion opinion we are going to look at filing complaints against Sen. Brimer and Sen. Nelson,’’ said Russell Langley, spokesman for the Texas Values in Action Coalition, a PAC comitted to electing Democrats in North Texas. "Regardless of whether they dotted enough i’s or crossed enough t’s to make it legal, it certainly doesn’t comply with the spirit of the law and it doesn’t pass the smell test.’’

Attempts to reach Brimer and Nelson were not successful Thursday. Both have said previously they did nothing wrong.

-- Jay Root

Comments

[ears1foru]

Jay...where did you get Bimer loophole???You haven't been around long enough to remember but the ethics bill put together years ago, before Brimer or Nelson was drafted to allow office holder accounts to be used for interest...etc. Why...because one John Montford then a Senator from Lubbock had just bought a house in Austin, and needed to use his account to pay for it.

[Left of the Pyle]

The Goodman fact pattern seems pretty unique to me (while property was deeded to his wife, loans on the property were in both their names -- thus the reason the Ethics Commission says it was a violation), but I could be wrong.

I wonder if Nelson and Brimer had both the properties and the loans solely in their spouses' names or if they made the same error as goodman.