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J STATE & LOCAL
Tuesday, July 11,1989
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Group calls for strict enforcement
of legislative, lobbyist ethics laws
Dallas holds suspect
in Kansas murder
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AUSTIN (AP) — The citizen’s
[group Common Cause on Monday
[urged stepped-up enforcement of
ethics laws, charging that lobbyists
[increasingly are giving state legis
lators costly vacations without
proper reporting of the gifts.
“The abuses that are now occur
ring are massive,” Rozanne Moore
|McKinney, a lawyer and Common
Cause of Texas board member, said.
“Lobbyists themselves are com-
Iplaining that they are being required
Ito pay for expensive trips for legis
lators in order not to offend them.
“Trips that cost thousands of dol
lars are being taken at lobby ex
pense,” she said.
“Furthermore, unlike in previous
[years, there is no effort to connect
these trips to purposes like conven
tions or constituent meetings. These
trips are pure and simple, a gift of a
very large amount of money to curry
the favor of the legislator.”
McKinney’s comments came in a
letter to Travis County District At
torney Ronnie Earle, and she re
ferred to recent news reports of ski
trips and other vacations for legis
lators and gubernatorial staff mem
bers paid for by lobbyists.
Under state law, lawmakers can
accept such gifts provided they are
publicly reported on forms filed
with the secretary of state.
But in an interview, McKinney
said she believes a trend is devel
oping in which lawmakers are solicit
ing gifts and not reporting them.
[Bill stiffens penalties
for ritualistic crimes
“Both sides (lawmakers and lobby
ists) are conveniently seeming to ig
nore the law,” she told the Asso
ciated Press.
“We’re even hearing it from the
private lobbyists — that they are get-
“ D
Doth sides (lawmakers
and lobbyists) are
conveniently seeming to
ignore the law.”
— Rozanne McKinney,
Common Cause member
ting tired of the pressure being put
on them by legislators to give them
trips,” she said.
“When we hear it from the lobby
ists, we know it’s getting pretty bad.”
The state’s ethics laws say lawmak
ers accepting gifts or money must re
port them appropriately as office
holder contributions, campaign
contributions or gifts.
In her letter to Earle, McKinney
said she hoped prosecutors would
put lawmakers on notice that report
ing laws would be strictly enforced.
“The statute is clearly not being
followed with the result that there is
now massive acceptance of huge
benefits with no reporting of the ac
ceptance of these gifts,” shesaid.
“The prosecuting attorneys re
sponsible for the enforcement of our
laws must step in and order a halt to
this unreported activity,” she added.
Her letter referred to a December
ski trip that was sponsored by the
Texas State Troopers Association,
which later opposed a bill to require
police groups to publicly disclose
where they spend money they raise
through telephone solicitations.
One lawmaker who took the trip,
Rep. Ron Lewis, D-Mauriceville, said
such outings are legal and a perk of
a public office that pays only $600 a
month.
DALLAS (AP) — Richard Gris
som Jr., sought for questioning by
Kansas authorities in the stabbing
death of one woman and disappear
ances of three others, refused Mon
day to waive extradition to that state.
The 28-year-old painter was held
without bail in the custody of the
Dallas County Sheriff s Department,
agency spokesman Jim Ewell said.
Grissom was held on a warrant for
alleged parole violations, authorities
said. Grissom has not been charged
in the slaying or disappearances.
Grissom, arrested at Dallas-Eort
Worth International Airport on Fri
day, appeared for less than five min
utes Monday before visiting Magis
trate Virgil Lang.
Lang scheduled another hearing
for Grissom on Aug. 9 as part of an
extradition process that could last up
to 90 days.
State District Judge Keith Dean
appointed Dallas attorney Paul R.
Shunatona to represent Grissom.
“The next step, I would suspect,
would be to wait and see what Kan
sas does,” Shunatona said after Mon-
AUSTIN (AP) — Stiffer penalties
[could be imposed for crimes com
mitted against children during a rit
ual under a bill added to the special
I legislative session agenda by Gov.
Bill Clements.
The measure was one of 15 placed
before lawmakers for their consider
ation Monday by Clements, who
controls the special session agenda.
Other crime-related measures
[ would allow all assets from drug
| sales to he seized and require manda-
! tory drug testing for offenders on
probation or parole.
The expansion brings to 41 the
number of issues the governor has
included in the special session, which
was called primarily to deal with
workers’ compensation reform.
“We must get tough with crimi
nals, not simply in words, but in ac
tion,” Clements said. “Public safety is
paramount.
“Convicted criminals must pay
their price to society,” he said in a
statement. “At the same time, it is
imperative that we attack the root
cause of crime — drugs. These addi
tional anti-crime measures will un
derscore our efforts to do both.”
The ritual crimes bill would en
hance penalties for child abuse one
degree if it could be shown at trial
that the crime was committed as part
of a ritual or ceremony and involved
a child under age 17. It would not
affect crimes that already are first-
degree felonies.
Other issues added to the agenda
Monday are:
• Creation of the State Trust
Fund Investment Review Council.
• Efficiency in state government.
• Alcohol and drug abuse educa
tion for public school students and
teachers.
Town says new law discriminates
PATTON VILLAGE, Texas (AP) — Officials in Pat
ton Village and other small towns famed for their speed
traps are threatening to go to court to try to overturn a
new state law that limits the amount of cash they can
collect from traffic fines.
“The legislation helps probably 600 cities in the state
and hurts nine or 10 I know of,” Frank Sturzl, director
of the Texas Municipal League, said.
But that’s of little importance in Patton Village,
where traffic fines account for about 65 percent of the
$300,000 annual budget in the tiny community north
east of Houston.
“I don’t know if we have any alternative,” Patton Vil
lage City Attorney Lloyd Oliver says of a possible law
suit.
The measure signed last month by Gov. Bill Clem
ents eliminates costly administrative expenses tied to
the law it replaced and probably adversely affects only
towns that do not have property taxes, Struzl said.
But opponents contend the law is discriminatory be
cause the 30 percent limit is arbitrary. They also take is
sue with the application to places with less than 5,000
population.
“Let’s do it to everyone if we’re going to do it,” Oliver
said.
Complaints about police, particularly those in Patton
Village, spurred enactment of the measure, written by
Rep. Keith Valigura, R-Conroe.
Under the law, towns under 5,000 population can
keep all traffic fine money until the total receipts equal
30 percent of the previous year’s budget.
After that, the town can retain only $ 1 from each
fine.
Before the new measure, there was no limit on total
income from traffic fines.
Backers of the law see it as a fair way to eliminate
speed traps and view it as a message that towns can’t
cover their budgets with revenues from motorists, most
of whom are from out of town.
Already, officials in the Fayette County town of Car
mine say their plans to add a second police officer to the
department are being thwarted by the new law.
day’s hearing. “I’ll be probably ap
proaching some district judges here
about bond.”
Although he had earlier agreed to
cooperate, Grissom, on the advice of
his attorneys, refused Saturday to
sign papers allowing his extradition
to Kansas.
Credit cards, jewelry and other
belongings of at least one of the
missing women were recovered
from Grissom’s car, and he matched
the description of a prowler near a
woman’s apartment complex, Kan
sas City Metro Squad Detective Larry
Keller said.
No trace of the three suburban
Kansas City women has been found,
Keller said, but the body of the Wi
chita, Kan., woman has been recov
ered.
Authorities said Grissom had
planned a date with Terri Maness,
25, of Wichita, the night of June 7,
when she was strangled and stabbed
repeatedly in her townhouse.
Overland Park police also began
seeking Grissom on June 27 in con
nection with the disappearance of
24-year-old Joan Butler. She was re
ported missingjune 16.
Grissom is also wanted for ques
tioning in the disappearances of Le
nexa, Kan., roommates Theresa J.
Brown and Christine A. Rusch, both
22, Keller said. They were reported
missingjune 26.
Grissom was convicted at age 16
of fatally bludgeoning a 72-year-old
Lansing, Kan., woman with a rail
road spike.
In Kansas City, police said about
$2,100 was found on Grissom when
he was arrested Friday in Dallas, and
he apparently had used cash in his
travels since leaving the area last
month.
About $3,300 was withdrawn
through cashed checks and auto
matic teller machine cards from (he
bank accounts of two-of the women
about the time of their disappear
ance, police said.
The bank accounts belong to But
ler and Rusch.
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