Star Telegram | Texas New Republican Speaker Craddick shielded utility

Tom Craddick, the Republican in line to become the next speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, helped push exclusive rules favoring a controversial hometown utility into the state's deregulation law.

A Craddick spokesman acknowledged that the lawmaker received more than $28,000 for brokering a mineral-rights purchase for a subsidiary of the Midland utility but said there was no connection between that payment and the deregulation law.

Records also indicate that Craddick entered into a land deal with a businessman associated with the utility.

The utility company, now known as Cap Rock Energy, also hired Craddick's daughter, Christi, to lobby on its behalf, according to documents from the Texas Ethics Commission.

This is not the first time Craddick has faced ethics questions.

In 1997, Craddick was criticized for pushing separate pieces of legislation that benefited lobby clients for Christi Craddick. One case involved a $4 million tax break for a Houston convention hotel, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The other involves Tom Craddick's co-sponsorship of legislation aimed at curbing lawsuits involving unpaid pipeline franchise fees. Christi Craddick was hired to lobby for the bill, the Texas Journal of The Wall Street Journal reported.

Karen Lundquist, general counsel of the Texas Ethics Commission, said state law prohibits members of the Legislature from voting on bills or measures that directly benefit a specific business transaction or a business entity of which the member has a controlling interest.

Under the statute, a lawmaker can have a controlling interest if he or she "serves on the board of directors or other governing body of the business entity," Lundquist said. Violators face fines up to $4,000, up to a year in jail or both.

Article 3, Section 22 of the Texas Constitution also requires legislative members with a personal, private interest in legislation to disclose that connection. It also prohibits members with such conflicts from voting on such legislation.

Lundquist said the provision does not specify penalties.