open letter to Texas House Speaker and Lt Gov

RICHARD L. ELLISON, P.C.
Attorney at Law
327 Earl Garrett, St 106
Kerrville, Texas 78028
Telephone (830) 792-5601
Facsimile (830) 792-5602

Board Certified in Civil Trial Law E-Mail: rellison@richellison.com
and Personal Injury Trial Law,
Texas Board of Legal Specialization

April 25, 2008

By fax 512-463-0677
Lt. Governor David Dewhurst
Capitol Station
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711

Re: Defect in Asset Forfeiture Audit Provisions in CCP 59

Dear Lt. Governor Dewhurst,

I enclose a copy of an article that ran in the San Antonio Express yesterday describing how a Texas D.A. refuses to use money from his asset forfeiture fund to have extradition papers translated into Spanish to obtain a warrant for a fugitive murderer. I am familiar with this particular situation, as I have been trying to get public information on the fund since January. The DA uses AF money to take his whole staff and spouses and friends and political contacts to Hawaii for “training.” He spent $79,000 for “training” last year. Yet he will not spend $5,000.00 to try to catch a fugitive who murdered a woman in cold blood in Kerr County. In violation of CCP Ch. 59, he does not submit a budget to the county commissioners, nor does he have the fund audited.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has informed me that if a DA fails to have his AF fund audited, the AG can do nothing. So it seems that the requirements in CCP 59 for budgets and audits are useless, since the AG, who is charged with enforcing them, won’t. The DA in question, Ronald Sutton, has told several people, including the reporter who wrote this article, that if I win my election for DA that he will empty the fund, which has more than a million dollars.

I respectfully submit that this loophole in the law needs to be closed. Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely yours,
/S/
Richard L. Ellison