Garcia will have to pay $1,800
for failing to properly disclose
several campaign donations.
Posted on 01/15/2008 11:43:36 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
State Rep. Juan Garcia has been fined $1,800 by the Texas Ethics Commission for campaign finance violations, including a failure to disclose a $12,500 campaign contribution.
The commission also found that Garcia, a freshman Democrat, failed to disclose information about out-of-state donors in two instances and in 24 instances violated rules that require candidates to list the occupation and employer of donors who give more than $500.
Garcia said the violations were technical difficulties that occurred in the final days of a tough campaign.
"We had 950 individual donors," Garcia said. "That's 24 of 950."
He said many gave through the Internet.
"With some," he said, "it's just hard to find their occupations."
Garcia defeated Republican incumbent Gene Seaman in 2006. He faces former state Rep. Todd Hunter, who represented the district as a Democrat but has filed as a Republican.
The fine stems from a complaint from former Nueces County Republican Party chairman Joel Yowell, who lodged the allegations nine months ago. It is the fourth complaint filed against Garcia by local Republicans. The other three were dismissed.
"I've been confident all along they would make some sort of finding," Yowell said. "I felt like he really violated some rules."
Nueces County Republicans uncovered the unreported campaign contributions by examining campaign finance reports from the Good Government Political Action Committee, a group run by trial lawyer Mikal Watts.
Mike Bertuzzi, current Nueces County Republican Party chairman, said the amounts reported by Garcia and those reported by the committee didn't add up.
"Mr. Garcia and his cronies apparently felt they were above the law and didn't want Texans to know that his election was bought and paid for by liberal trial lawyers," Bertuzzi said.
Garcia said there was no attempt to hide anything.
"In the heat of an intense campaign, I know mistakes were made," Garcia said. "My campaign from the beginning has been about transparency. None of my contributors have asked for any special favors. I vote for House District 32."
The Texas Ethics Commission Web site lists 25 politicians fined in 2007. The smallest fine was $100. The largest was $8,500.
Juan Garcia received massive donations from Maricio Celis in 2006 to unseat the Repubican incumbent. He only donated a portion of those political donations to charity.
Juan Garcia is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and was a Navy fighter pilot. He is also a lawyer who went to Harvard law school at the same time as Barack Obama and was campaigning with Obama last week. It's widely known that Garcia has ambitions of rising much higher in politics than the Texas House of Representatives.
Garcia will have to pay $1,800
for failing to properly disclose
several campaign donations.
If that’s him, that cannot be his real name.
01.15.08: Texas Democrat who received large donations from Celis Fined 01.09.08: D.A. Carlos Valdez (Selena murder fame) opposes Court return of Celis passport 01.07.08: FlAttorney's Celis Scandal Position Statement 01.04.08: Agents raid influential Texas Democrat's offices - - 01.05.08: More Mauricio Celis details 01.04.08, Texas Lawyer: Celis Now Accused of Laundering Millions – Law Offices Raided 01.04.08 Doc: Mauricio Celis-CGT International Law Group et. al. Search Warrant (PDF - 13 pgs) - - Celis’ law offices were raided today by Texas State & Local authorities. The raid and new search warrant allegations are unrelated to Celis' Nov. 2007 criminal indictments. Additional criminal indictments against Celis are expected. - FlA 12.19.07: South Texas Called a Judicial Hellhole for 6th Straight Year 12.08.07: Maurico Celis has no law degree in either Country, yet practices law in Texas and Mexico 11.30.07: TX-22 Nick Lampson(D) Refuses to Dislodge Celis Donations (Tom DeLay's old seat) 11.20.07: Donor Celis has history of local Judges recusing themselves from legal cases against him 11.16.07: Powerful Hillary-Dems Texas donor, Mauricio Celis, Criminally Indicted (Multiple Counts) - - 11.17.07: Second FR Thread | Mauricio Celis personal political donations, per FEC 10.30.07: Politicians Scramble to dump Celis Donations but not TX-22 Nick Lampson 10.05.07: Celis Background Information Additional Texas Lawyer Articles: 12.03.07: Committee Sues Celis, Firm, Alleges Unauthorized Practice of Law - - Legal Doc: UPCL vs Celis 11.16.07: Mauricio Celis Indicted on 10 Criminal Counts | All Texas Lawyer Celis Articles "Corpus Christi Caller" Mauricio Celis News Articles (Courtesy SouthTexas) - - Mauricio Celis is a major Mexican donor to Hillary & other Democrats. Nov. 2007, Celis, 36, was indicted on charges of (1) impersonating a police officer, (2) practicing law without a license or degree, (3) perjury, and (4) theft. He tried to flee back to Mexico before being arrested. Mauricio Celis also has major ties to the Mexican illegal narcotics trade. Further, the Attorney General of Texas (Greg Abbott, retired Texas Supreme Court Judge) - with assistance from the FBI - is currently investigating approximately $15 million in Celis money laundering transactions, which includes RICO Act violations. Of further interest, Democrat Nick Lampson won Tom DeLay's TX-22 House of Representatives seat when DeLay abruptly retired from public office. A key Lampson campaign pledge was that he would never be part of the Washington DC Culture of Corruption. Yet this liar and fraud received $4,600 from Mauricio Celis, AND received $4,300 from Paw Family members who are key players in the major Norman Hsu-Hillary Clinton-Democrats Scandal. In the Hsu Scandal, Hillary’s campaign refused to dislodge any Hsu et. al. donations, until the FBI and the Justice Department began an investigation. Hillary then immediately coughed up $850,000 Hsu scandal tainted money. To-date, Lampson has never returned his Hsu-Paw Family scandal donations. - FlA
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Posted for FlAttorney by TAB
This is a mistake that Gene Seaman tried to correct during the campaign. “He’s not a fighter pilot,“He never flew jets, he flew P-3s.”(Not that there's anything shabby about that.)
"Garcia did not fly jets, his campaign staff agreed. But he did fly 30 armed missions in the Persian Gulf and served as a top aide to the deputy Commander in Chief of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe. He also served in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo and on the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in support of the enforcement of the no-fly zone in Iraq."
Retired General Wesley Clark is a big supporter of Juan Garcia.
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