Gordon Quan for Harris County Judge—Democrat for Harris County Judge, Houston, Texas.

Despite Promised Transparency, Emmett Conceals Occupations of Major Donors Whom do Significant Business with Harris County

In the wake of several Republican scandals within county government two years ago, County Judge Ed Emmett campaigned on a platform of transparency and ethical reform. But his recent campaign finance report is just the latest reminder that Emmett was anything but genuine in his stated desire to bring reform to Harris County government.

“From watering down his own ethics task force’s recommendations to failing to disclose the vocations of every single donor on his finance report, Ed Emmett has proven time and again that he can’t be trusted when it comes to government transparency and ethics,” said Gordon Quan. “This wasn’t some oversight; Ed Emmett wanted to make it more difficult for the public to see how much contractors with business before the county are dumping into his campaign.”

The contribution and expenditure report recently submitted by Harris County Judge Ed Emmett included several contributions from businessmen who have significant financial interests with the county. Media reports [1] indicate that there were tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from those individuals. None of those donors have their occupations listed in the field provided on the reporting form. In a statement released more than a year ago [2] Emmett sought to assure county residents that county officials and county government would “be as transparent as it can be.”

“We need a county judge who will give more than lip service to transparency in government,” said Quan.“What Harris County does not need is another career lobbyist and politician, like Ed Emmett, in charge. That’s like a fox guarding the henhouse.”

In July of last year the Harris County Commissioners Court received a report containing ethics reform recommendations from an ethics task force. The report from the task force included a list of principles for standards of conduct for county officials. The first principle listed was: “The public has entrusted us, as stewards of County time and resources, to exercise our public duties without the influence or appearance of influence of our private interests.” [3]

That list of principles was approved by commissioners court as part of an ethics reform package which also included voluntary lobbyist registration, immediate Web posting of all required personal and financial disclosure forms, adoption of a Statement of Ethics, establishment of a Harris County Ethics Committee, and implementation of employee ethics training. Though Emmett made ethics reform a major piece of his 2008 campaign, the majority of the task force recommendations have still not been acted upon [4].

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[1] Houston Chronicle 7/16/10
“Emmett’s list of donors is replete with construction industry players, many of whom do business with the county. Emmett received $45,000 just from Doug Pitcock, CEO of Williams Brothers Construction, which has built portions of the county’s toll road system. Construction company owner C.M. Garver, developer Bob Perry and construction company CEO George Pontikes and the Houston Contractors Political Action Committee each gave Emmett’s campaign $10,000.”

[2] Office of County Judge Ed Emmett Press Release 6/22/09
“I want county residents to rest assured that their employees and officials have the most up-to-date training and that their government is as transparent as it can be. It’s time for us to take this significant step forward.”

[3] League of Women Voters of the Houston Area Update on the Issues: Ethics Reform 9/2009
One of the attachments of the recommendations was a proposed set of ethical principles, which would apply to all county officers and employees. The principles are stated below:
“Certain broad principles apply to the standards of conduct that we expect from Harris County Personnel. Because all standards of conduct and behavior cannot be specified in advance, we have listed these principles as guidance for Personnel in the execution of their positions as public servants.
Specifically, we believe the following:

The public has entrusted us, as stewards of County time and resources, to exercise our public duties without the influence or appearance of influence of our private interests.

[4] Texas Democratic Party Press Release 2/11/10
http://www.txdemocrats.org/2010/02/11/what-you-can-expect-not-to-hear-in-harris-county/