As COVID spiked in Texas, lawmakers escaped to Maui for a corporate-backed confab on the economy
As COVID spiked in Texas, lawmakers escaped to Maui for a corporate-backed confab on the economy
The Independent Voter Project has paid for Texas legislators to attend its annual conference in Maui for a decade. But no one reported these freebies for years.
The Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui, Hawaii, has been the site of the annual Independent Voter Project conference for a decade.
Updated at 8:30 p.m. to reflect a new response from Independent Voter Project chairman Dan Howle.
AUSTIN — At least two state lawmakers decamped to Hawaii the week before Thanksgiving for a conference funded by corporate sponsors, just as public health officials urged Americans to call off or downsize their holiday gatherings because of the coronavirus.
Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio and Sen. Larry Taylor of Friendswood, both Republicans, confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that they attended the meeting at a luxury hotel in Maui the week of Nov. 16. Hosted by the Independent Voter Project, a San Diego-based nonprofit, this year’s conference reportedly brought together at least 50 people, including about 20 state legislators from California and Texas, to discuss ways to restart the economy during the pandemic.
Ethics watchdogs have long criticized the four-day confab as an industry-backed tropical getaway masquerading as a policy conference. This year, organizers were hit with even harsher criticism for not canceling the conference amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.
And now, Independent Voter Project chairman Dan Howle and the lawmakers who attended his event in the recent past have a different problem on their hands.
After scouring years of financial documents, The News found that potentially tens of thousands of dollars in expenses the Independent Voter Project covered for Texas legislators to attend its last three conferences were never disclosed. Critics of Texas ethics laws say this lapse reveals how loosely the state’s rules are followed and proves they should be tightened.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2020/12/04/as-covid-spiked-in-texas-lawmakers-escaped-to-maui-for-corporate-backed-confab-on-economy/?