Disclosure not required, DA says

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June 3, 2007

Jay Ermis The Huntsville Item Sun Jun 03, 2007, 09:57 PM CDT

The Texas Election Code provides an exemption for political advertisements not bearing a disclosure, but the Walker County district attorney recommends they carry one.

A two-page political advertisement distributed in Huntsville supporting a recent petition drive did not carry the name of the individual providing and distributing the flyer.

District Attorney David Weeks said any political advertisements not bearing a disclosure is illegal to distribute and is a Class A misdemeanor.

Weeks said the Election Code does provide an exemption.

“If the circular or flyer that costs in the aggregate less than $500, you do not have to publish a disclosure,” Weeks said. “However, if you distribute them, I have no way of knowing, unless we investigate, what the valule is.”

Weeks said that if any political advertisement is distributed without a disclosure, “we are going to have to make an attempt to find out who prepared and distributed them to see if we can get a value of the cost, which means more work for me and more work for them.

“If you just put the disclosure on the advertisement, you don’t have to worry about it. The person distributing the advertisement will have to prove it costs less than $500.”

“I always encourage people to put a disclosure on it, even when you are in doubt about it,” Weeks said.

Weeks said in a May 19 story in The Item that a disclosure is required “so we know where people are coming from and they are not hiding anything. This allows people to know who is talking about any particular subject.

“Somebody just has to say paid political advertising by Fred Smith and give an address so if anybody has a question about it.

“In the political process, it’s always better to disclose where it’s coming from. Put your name on it and just say this is political advertising,” Weeks said.

Weeks said he contacted the individuals involved with the advertisement and was told a disclosure would be placed on the flyer.

“I prefer to handle these situations by talking to the people involved and correcting the problem and let’s move on with it,” Weeks said. “I don’t want to keep people out of the political process.

“I just want everybody to follow the rules. People have to understand what the rules are and once they do I expect them to follow them. It’s as simple as that.”

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Disclosure not required, DA says

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