Shame on Them!
More Dirty Tricks From
The Negatives and Naysayers
By Susan M. Halpern
Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)
Today (on the eve of early voting) the negative’s designated blogger claimed that “it has come to their attention” that an ethics complaint was filed against one of the candidates. Here’s what the Texas Ethics Commission has said about statements like that:
“The use of the statements “a sworn complaint has been filed against Candidate A” or “the Texas Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Candidate A” are improper attempts to mislead the public. It is therefore the unanimous opinion of the bipartisan Texas Ethics Commission thatthe use of such language in campaign communications is an unfair practice and should be judged accordingly by voters.”
Here is the full text of the Resolution on this subject that was adopted by the Ethics Commission in December 2013:
RESOLUTION
“The Texas Ethics Commission unanimously condemns the use of misleading campaign communications regarding the activities of the Commission.
The use of the statements “a sworn complaint has been filed against Candidate A” or “the Texas Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Candidate A” are improper attempts to mislead the public. It is therefore the unanimous opinion of the bipartisan Texas Ethics Commission that the use of such language in campaign communications is an unfair practice and should be judged accordingly by voters.
By law, the Texas Ethics Commission investigates every sworn complaint, whether it has merit or not. Likewise, any citizen of the State of Texas has the right to file a sworn complaint, whether it has merit or not. The fact that a complaint has been filed or the Commission is investigating provides no meaningful information to the voting public. Anyone can file a complaint and the Commission must investigate the complaints it receives.
If violations of the statutes under the Commission’s jurisdiction have occurred, the proper way to inform the public of these violations is to describe the facts of the violation or the actual findings of the Commission after the conclusion of an investigation.
The Commission directs that this resolution be prominently referenced on the Commission’s website and that the resolution be sent to members of the legislature and state and county party chairs.”
Notably, as of this writing, the Texas Ethics Commission has no record of the alleged complaint and the candidate involved hasn’t been notified about anything. This can only mean (a) it never happened, or (b) it is still in the mail and hasn’t reached the Commission. Either way, the information was clearly fed to the negative blogger for the precise purpose of publishing it, which is the exact conduct resoundingly condemned by the Ethics Commission in the quoted Resolution.
If you had any doubt about whether leopards change their spots, doubt no more. Once a negative, always a negative. It’s not what Addison needs, and the last two years have proved that in spades. Don’t fall for such tactics. They aren’t the Addison Way.
SHAME ON THE NEGATIVES FOR TRYING TO MISLEAD ADDISON VOTERS.