COMMENTARY: GARDNER SELBY
Was Staples' TV spot savvy or just plain illegal?
Ag commissioner gets pre-election-year lift at no cost to his campaign.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
I can't decide whether Republican Todd Staples lately proved himself the savviest politician in Texas or instead monkeyed with state law in plain view.
You might not know Staples, the state agriculture commissioner.
 Laura Skelding/AMERICAN-STATESMAN Todd Staples |
But my bet is you recently saw him on TV talking about government purchasing property.
A 30-second spot sent to cable systems statewide shows Staples, in front of the Texas Capitol, saying that beginning Oct. 19, the start of the early voting period, "you can exercise your constitutional right by casting a ballot on an issue critical to each of us: protecting your property. Proposition 11 prohibits the government from acquiring real estate for a nonpublic use. The rights of private property owners are the very foundation that have built our economy.
"Go to the polls and let your voice be heard. Go Texan, go vote."
The proposal won adoption. And I wouldn't comment if Staples' TV time was purchased by, say, a pro-proposition committee that had Staples as its treasurer, PAC OFF, It's My Land.
But the spot — with its favorable tone — aired at no charge as a public service announcement, with the agency saying Staples acted in line with laws giving the commissioner authority to promote agriculture and economic development.
Coincidentally, Staples got his mug on TV over and over.
Beautifully for him, no other statewide elected officials were airing spots, meaning Staples, poised to seek a second term, enjoyed a unique pre-election-year lift at no cost to his campaign, which had nearly $479,000 in cash on hand through June.
The project cost taxpayers nothing, Staples spokesman Bryan Black said, because Austin-based Surface to Air Productions Inc. donated the camera and editing work, valued at $2,500.
Austin lawyer Buck Wood, a Democrat versed in ethics laws, offered a decisively conflicting take, suggesting the pro-proposition message had no business being aired by a state agency.
Wood said Staples opened himself to charges of using state resources for personal or political purposes, a legal no-no. The ad's appearance on the agency's Web site means state resources were involved, Wood said, never mind whether state employees participated in distribution.
"It's never been done," Wood said of Staples' move. "It won't (legally) fly."
The Travis County district attorney's office had no comment.
Unsettled: If Staples could pitch the proposal as he did, what's to keep officials in coming years from employing PSAs to talk up pet ballot ideas?
All that free face time: irresistible.
wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644
