Complaints against mayoral candidates may highlight loophole in Austin campaign finance rule

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- In a hearing last week where Austin's Ethics Review Commission weighed complaints filed against both Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and one of his mayoral challengers, Doug Greco, a possible loophole in how donations are tracked and presented to the public -- as it relates to Austin's rule about taking only a certain amount of money from voters outside city limits -- became a point of contention.

The complaints allege that Watson and Greco both exceeded the amount of money they can take from donors who are not eligible voters in Austin. Filed by former Ethics Review Commission Member Betsy Greenberg, the complaint uses publicly available campaign finance records to show both candidates went over the $46,000 cap set by the city.

The idea to cap outside donations was brought forward by an activist group called "Austinites for a little less corruption" in the form of a citizen-initiated petition in the late 90's. According to Greenberg, it passed with 72% of the vote in 1997.

The challenge though -- argued James Cousar, representing Watson in Wednesday's preliminary hearing -- is that the rule does not change how candidates are required to pull donor data, most notably addresses. It makes compliance, and tracking compliance, a real challenge.

"There is nothing in Texas law or in the city of Austin campaign ordinance that requires any contributor to tell a campaign their home or residential address," Cousar explained. He went on to tell commissioners: "If the city of Austin wants to create a form...and say, so we can comply with the Charter, the campaign has to report a home residential address, we will do that, but that's not the current requirement."

That's where Cousar argued the discrepancy was. While Greenberg said publicly available data points to Watson receiving $52,504.77 (not including addresses such as P.O. boxes and businesses, which would bring that total to $68,104.77), the campaign for Watson provided KXAN documents which appear to show the campaign followed up with donors who used an address outside of city limits and specifically asked for and tracked home addresses. By that count, the incumbent has only received $45,000 in contributions outside of Austin, complying with the rule, Cousar said.

"Are you both saying there is not a good way to determine whether you yourself as a candidate or a candidate that you're watching...there's not a good way to figure out if you've exceeded that?" a commissioner asked.

"That is what I am saying," Cousar responded.

Is the rule legal?

While Watson's team argued Watson had taken extra steps to comply with the rule, and that it had not been represented in public data, Greco's attorney once again pointed to a federal lawsuit regarding the rule.

Austin mayoral candidate Doug Greco — the former leader of Central Texas Interfaith — filed that lawsuit earlier this month.

“Why should my niece who will be voting for the first time, she’s 18…why is she not able to donate to her uncle, but another candidate’s niece in west Austin can donate to their campaign? That’s not fair,” Greco told reporters then.

That sentiment was echoed in Wednesday's hearing, along with assurances from Greco's attorney that he too was in compliance with the rule.

"Mr. Greco has no interest in ignoring or flouting or knowingly or intentionally violating the law. To the contrary, he brought his lawsuit because he thinks it is incredibly important to abide by the law and wants to be able to conduct his campaign while seeking clarification about what the law is from the federal court," said Greco's attorney, Holt Lackey.

The Ethics Review Commission was only required to find reasonable grounds to believe a violation had occurred last week. Both Watson and Greco will get a final hearing where evidence will be allowed to be provided at the Oct. 23 final hearing.