Texas: Jerry Eversole

City Council Member Toni Lawrence has decided not to challenge ethically challenged Jerry Eversole. Why?
"We have a lot of mutual friends, we really do, and it was really tough on a lot of those mutual friends," Lawrence said. "It was putting pressure on those people of who they were going to support and what they were going to do."
This is an indication that ethics is just another word for nothing left to steal. Lawrence had an opportunity to challenge one of the most unethical County Commissioner in the history of Harris County, and yet declined. Lawrence and the republican party of Harris County obviously thinks what Jerry Eversole has done with his donors money is within ethical guidelines of the party.

Rusty Hardin has endorsed candidate for Mayor, Gene Locke. Hardin's lists of clients include Commissioner Jerry Eversole, Supreme Court Justice Medina, Arthur Anderson after the Enron collapse, Houston Sports Authority, and who can forget Roger Clements during the Congressional hearings on steroid use.

Hardin is the "go to guy" when you need to get out of trouble, such is the case of Jerry Eversole According to Ch13, Eversole is under investigation by the FBI for his campaign spending.
Jerry Eversole is the latest named target of the corruption investigation. His newest campaign finance report shows he's spent $52,000 of his campaign funds on criminal defense lawyer Rusty Hardin, and that's just since January.

The Texas Ethics Commission' (TEC) settlement with Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole has been posted to their website and has raised some significant questions about Eversole's spending habits. It also raises questions about the Ethics Commission's handling of this particular case. A spreadsheet of this information can be found here. Here is a quick breakdown of Eversole's expenses during 2006-2007:

Cattle $26,000+
Eversole spent over $26,000 on two "Livestock" auctions. He also spent about $1500 on meat processing. The TEC only addressed $16,000 of these expenses and concluded there was evidence of a violation. Why the TEC limited their review is not clear. Donating to a charity is allowed by the TEC, but not if you receive something in return.