Dirty Democrats

State Rep. Flores investigated for possible ethics violations
Comments 36 | Recommend 8
November 7, 2008 – 2:35PM
Jeremy Roebuck and Ryan Holeywell
The Monitor
McALLEN — Travis County prosecutors are investigating state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, on allegations he accepted discounted air travel from some of his top campaign contributors.

Authorities subpoenaed Flores’ travel records last week and may be interested in several trips the representative took on a McAllen donor’s private plane, his attorney Roy Q. Minton said Friday.

“I intend to fully cooperate with the district attorney’s office,” Flores said in a written statement issued late in the day. “(I) am confident that this matter will be resolved in a manner which will in no way hinder the ability to represent my district or challenge the trust the voters of House District 36 have placed in me.”

Although prosecutors have not told Minton the exact nature of their probe, Flores reportedly suspects they are interested in three flights he took from Austin to the Rio Grande Valley with McAllen’s LaMantia family – owners of L&F Distributors LLC and major investors in a $23 million horse-racing track currently under development in southern Hidalgo County.

Minton confirmed his client took trips on the family’s private plane but said they were for legislative business and were paid for at fair-market value.

“He’s never accepted free travel from anyone,” the attorney said.

LONGSTANDING RELATIONSHIP

The Texas Ethics Commission requires state lawmakers to report any free or discounted travel they receive on their annually submitted financial disclosure forms.

But Flores failed to fully complete his most recent submission, according to state documents.

Fourteen sections of Flores’ February 2008 form – which covers activity in fiscal year 2007 – were never submitted, including pages related to gifts, assets and interests he held in common with lobbyists.

“In general, a personal financial statement is required to be complete,” said Natalia Ashley, general counsel for the commission.

If the plane trips were taken as part of a campaign trip, Flores would be required to note them as contributions in separate state filings. No such mention is made.

His attorney maintains, however, that because his client reimbursed the LaMantia family about $1,500 for the trips, no reporting was necessary.

But the relationship between Flores and the LaMantias extends beyond the plane trips in question. As major financial supporters, they have frequently contributed to the representative’s campaigns and those of other Valley legislators.

Six of the family’s members have made a combined $18,800 in contributions to Flores since 2005.

Flores, meanwhile, has proved to be a champion of the family’s business interests at the Statehouse.

As chairman of the House committee that oversees gambling legislation, the representative played a crucial role in securing approval for the LaMantias’ planned Tesoros Race Track in southern Hidalgo County.

The Texas Racing Commission last year issued a license for the project, which Flores lauded as a boon to the local economy. He estimated at the time that it would pump more than 500 jobs and $100 million into the Valley.

With a 59 percent share in the investment, the LaMantias could stand to make millions of dollars should the project be a success.

Family representatives could not be reached for comment Friday at L&F Distributors and did not return a message left there. A company employee said the LaMantias were out of town and that no one else could discuss the plane trips in question.

ETHICAL QUESTIONS

Flores, who won re-election to a seventh term Tuesday, has become a frequent target of ethical questions during his 11 years in office.

Earlier this month, he came under fire for his role as a consultant for a company that has received large state contracts under legislation he sponsored.

During the decade that Flores has been on the payroll at McAllen-based D. Wilson Construction, the firm has received state work to build a birding center and a veterans cemetery in Mission.

The representative has said he does not see the relationship as a conflict of interest.

He came under scrutiny of a different sort in September, when an illegal immigrant working at his Mission ranch became the main suspect in the beating death of another man.

Flores, who is not suspected of any involvement in the slaying, said that he hadn’t checked the man’s immigration status because he didn’t appear to be in the country illegally.

“He was preppy. He looked the part,” he said at the time. “He fit in extremely well.”