No information? Maybe Carole was a Democrat again for a few days in December.

maybe Maxey wants to be chairman of the independent party, too.....

Linda Curtis is Austin's petition queen. She's run for the City Council, headed a group called something like "Citizens For A Little Less Corruption," and spearheaded the drive to limit contributions to municipal candidates to a hundred bucks.

And as many of us know, Maxey is probably the local petition King.

In my opinion anything that helps get Carol 4-Names on the ballot for Governor is a good thing. As I wrote PD, "The enemy of my enemy is sometimes my friend"

Glen Maxey Consulting has a contract to collect signatures for two petitions for the Save Our Springs Allinace in Austin. I am paying folks who are collecting petition signatures. Members of the group "Independent Texans" collected signatures and asked that instead of being paid individually, that their payments go to their group.

This is a vendor paying for a service. No different than me paying a printer to print something or a phone vendor to make some calls. In this case I paid them to collect some signatures for a third party group.

I have no connection to their candidates, their positions on issues, or anything else.

Glen Maxey

Moreover, I don't think payment for a service should have been listed on their report as a "donation" to them.

And thirdly, if anyone has a question of me by email is RepGMaxey@aol.com, my office number is 443-2004, and my cell is 656-6337. Next time just ask.

I don't think this was really an attack. Just something that popped up...

Oooo, PD got schooled. :) And if you can't get in touch with Maxey for any reason ever, you can e-mail me too. I can probably find out what's really going on for you too, though my comment was made before I called Glen, though he responded here before that call.

What a bunch of CRAP!
if it was anyone else you would be up his/her ass Karl!
you have a double standard

Get a grip Mocoso. there is nothing to be up anyone's ass for. the amount in question isnt close to a round number it is obviously for some kind of reimbursement or payment not a donation.

Glen - Just tell me it's not another damn 'no smoking' ordinance. You're killing my MO stock and my smoking pleasure:)!

Glen Maxey has an excellent record and Carole's is, uh, well, half ass at best. Thanks for the update Glen and good luck on the Democratic Party Chair race. We definitely need to fight back in an effective manner. The tide is turning baby.

Glen's comments raise more questions.

Did Glen pay the 'Independent Texans' PAC for services rendered by the PAC or did Glen pay for services rendered by the members?

Did Glen pay the 'Independent Texans' PAC with a check from his personal account or was the check from his business account?

That last question relates to the trouble a certain Texan is in for accepting corporate donations to his PAC.

I wouldn't bring any of this up except that KT and others want Maxey to be the State Democratic Chair. Party bosses are up to their a***es in ethics forms and need to be very good at negotiating them.

The check is from my business account which is NOT a corporation.

Individuals gathered signatures. They turned them in and asked that instead of being paid to them to make the check payable to Indepentdent Texans.
I've done the same for members of ACORN who did this and asked that the check be made to ACORN.

I wrote a check to the organization "Independent Texans", not to it's PAC. If the PAC reported the payment as a donation, that's incorrect.
However, the purpose of reporting laws is to report. So what you have here is not an effort by Independent Texans to "hide" the transaction, but an effort to disclose it.

I think they should be applauded, even though I'm quite sure they didn't have to report it. There is no "election activity" in any of this until an election is called by the City of Austin. Money raised or expended in the collection of signatures is not even reportable, since there is no "election" or "candidate" until after the measure or candidate is certified.

Why would you agree to an arrangement like that? I've worked with paid phone bank and block walk teams for years. I have written a single check to the team captain, with the understanding that the captain would cash the check and pay each team member. I've cashed checks written to me and then distributed the money to my team members. However, I would never make out a check directly to an organization or business rather than to an individual--and YES, I've been asked by a worker to make the check out to her county's Democratic Party. I told her if she wanted to donate the money to the party, she could endorse the check and give it to the county chair herself. You know that political transactions always end up being reported on somebody's ethics commission reports. In the future, I would suggest you think about how your name would look, should it appear on a particular ethics commission report. I assume every check I write or cash in my political activity will be a matter of public record, so I make sure it will withstand even microscopic scrutiny.

This was a non-story from the start, one which a simple phone call could have answered. And had PD not brought it to you attention, it would have remained the non-story that it continues to be.

Glen is great. I hope he is our new leader.

Had Maxey written the check directly to an individual instead of an organization, we would not be having this discussion. I have worked grassroots politics for over 20 years, and I got burnt early in my volunteer days because I didn't keep careful records of cash receipts and distributions--turns out some cash was skimmed off before I received it, and had there not been a couple of witnesses when I first opened the envelope and counted it, I would have been out about $200 of my own money. Since I didn't write out a receipt, I couldn't conclusively prove it was the other guy, either. I learned my lesson. The payment details are in writing, and everyone signs before the work begins. Cash (over $50) is counted and receipts written at the moment it's received, in front of at least two witnesses. Not everybody is honest--CYA.

KT, stories aren't stories or not just because you decide them not to be. PD wasn't attacking you, or Glen, just raising a question. Glen answered that question, and everything's fine.

Get off your power-trip and stop trying to censor what everyone else is allowed to write. It's sweet to see you stick up for Glen so much, but Glen's a big boy and can talk for himself.

hey glen,
nothing personal but you would think an ex-legislator would know state law. I've worked on a ton of petition drives and if you're petitioning for a specific measure that will be submitted to the voters you have to file a PAC.

Here's the definition of measure for you from the Election Code:

(19) "Measure" means a question or proposal submitted
in an election for an expression of the voters' will and includes the circulation and submission of a petition to determine whether a question or proposal is required to be submitted in an election for an expression of the voters' will.

Again, nothing personal but that's the law.