Bay Area Houston

What the hell is happening at the Dept of Education?

I filed two ethics complaints against former candidate for City Council Eric Dick. I truly expected a slap on the wrist, a small fine, and a promise from Dick to not do it again. Instead he received a record fine of $30,000, which he has not paid since 2021 and another $10,000 just last week.

The Ethics Commission rarely fines anyone $10,000 much less $30,000. The largest fine ever imposed was against former Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole for $75,000. Eversole is now (or was) a paid lobbyist for the Harris County Department of Education. WTF?

Yesterday the Houston Chronicle wrote about Dick’s latest fine. The first line took me by surprise:

Attorney and Harris County Department of Education Trustee Eric Dick faces $40,000 in fines for campaign finance violations after the Texas Ethics Commission recently tacked on another $10,000 penalty.

Dick is a Trustee with HCDE? Turns out Dick was going to run for one of the HCDE positions after he lost his race for Harris County Treasurer. He filed an assignment of treasurer in May of 2022 then pulled out in July. But….the Trustees appointed Dick to an empty seat in January of 2023! So the two elected officials with the two top fines by the Texas Ethics Commission now works, or worked, for the Harris County Department of Education.

Wow. In the words of George W. Bush: Rarely do we ask, is our children learning?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 4th, 2023 at 5:48 am and is filed under Political. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.