Thumbs Down to the Texas legislators who enacted a broad and hopelessly confusing conflict-of-interest law last year to supposedly restrict public officials from voting on zoning, purchasing or tax issues from which they or their relatives might benefit. A year in prison is the maximum penalty for knowingly voting on an issue that they or their relatives -including everyone from children to nephews-in-law-are too involved in. (They are too involved in an issue if it affects a business in which they own at least 10 percent of the stock or have invested $2,500 or more, or from which they receive 10 percent of their income.) This law has several flaws. First, the definition of a public official is far-reaching. Second, as City Council member Annette Strauss put it, “I don’t know what kind of property my relatives own, and I couldn’t very well ask them.” Third, where do personal friends fall in an official’s sphere of influence?
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