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Texas Ethics Commission Drops Takeover Plan


(AP) -- The Texas Ethics Commission has dropped a plan that could have led to takeover of ethics enforcement of public officials from the Travis County district attorney's office.

The Austin American-Statesman reports commission members met Thursday in Austin and abandoned the proposal amid growing criticism. The panel voted only to ask legislators for more money to continue the current civil-enforcement role, not to take over criminal enforcement.

A recent Texas Sunset Advisory Commission report criticized the eight-member ethics panel for lax enforcement.

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said Wednesday she had not been contacted about the proposal and opposed it.

The commission Thursday also endorsed changing a Texas law to let the panel share, with prosecutors, information gained during ethics investigations. Current law prohibits such sharing.