Former Fort Bend County GOP Chairman Eric Thode and the county Republican Party itself each face $500 fines from the Texas Ethics Commission for missing a January deadline to file campaign finance reports.
On Monday, Thode said the reports were late, but have been filed, and the matter “will go in front of one of the ethics commission lawyers” soon. His expectation is “the fines will be gone.”
Thode, whose last official day as party chairman was Sunday, said he believed he’d already filed the final campaign finance report required by law, but didn’t see notices sent through the mail by the ethics commission.
He also said he’d been working in January to get required financial information to the commission on behalf of the county party, but missed the deadline because of technical issues he and ethics commission tech staff were unable to resolve until a Jan. 15 deadline had passed.
Thode created a controversy within the party last November when he moved out of Fort Bend County but continued to serve as party chairman. Some Republican precinct chairs questioned the propriety of having a sitting chairman who lived in another county.
Thode’s address again became an issue in the flap with the ethics commission, which apparently sent notices to Thode’s former Sugar Land address to inform him that he and the county party had missed the filing deadlines.
When the commission got no response, it put Thode’s name – and the Republican Party of Fort Bend County – on its list of delinquent political candidates and general-purpose political action committees. The ethics commission also fined each of them $500.
And because Thode didn’t respond to the notices, the commission turned the matter over to the Texas Attorney General’s office for collection.
The attorney general’s Bankruptcies and Collections Division also sent a notice out to Thode in April, which he also did not see, because it also apparently went to the Sugar Land address but was not forwarded to his Harris County residence.
“Our cases against Eric Thode are on hold right now,” AG spokeswoman Lauri Saathoff said Monday. The ethics commission informed her office that Thode “has filed all the documents they asked him to,” along with a request that the commission waive the fines against him and the county party.
“What’s happened is, I moved,” Thode said. “They sent out computerized letters,” but to the wrong address, and the Post Office didn’t forward the mail.
Thode said once he discovered the ethics commission expected a report covering his last six months as party chairman, “I sent them a report showing no contributions and no expenditures,” along with an affidavit that says he thought his account as an outgoing office holder was closed, and he had no campaign contributions or spending.
The Republican Party’s report was late because Thode had “technical difficulties” getting the ethics commission’s software to allow him to import campaign finance data.
He said it took about 10 days of working with the commission’s tech support people to figure out what was wrong, and to get their system to accept the Fort Bend County party’s information.
The county party’s report was filed Jan. 24, Thode said, and he recently filed an affidavit explaining the situation.
Tim Sorrells of the ethics commission said the full commission would hear Thode’s request that the fines be waived for him and on behalf of the party. He said the matter may be taken up at the commission’s May 12 meeting, or perhaps at a meeting in June.
On Monday, Thode said the reports were late, but have been filed, and the matter “will go in front of one of the ethics commission lawyers” soon. His expectation is “the fines will be gone.”
Thode, whose last official day as party chairman was Sunday, said he believed he’d already filed the final required campaign finance report, but didn’t see notices sent by the ethics commission.
