The Texas Ethics Commission will review allegations that Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo illegally misused government resources after Hidalgo used her official Harris County Twitter account to promote IWillVote.com- a website run by the Democratic National Committee. Hidalgo’s tweet, which was posted on October 4 and included a video of Hidalgo promoting IWillVote.com, has since been deleted.
In a letter sent to Hidalgo by the Texas Ethics Commission on Monday, the Commission notified Hidalgo that it had accepted jurisdiction over an allegation that Hidalgo’s tweet violated a state law prohibiting the spending of public funds for political advertising. The Commission gave Hidalgo 25 business days to respond to the allegation.
Hidalgo’s actions were highlighted in an October 5 tweet by State Senate Paul Bettencourt.
“Another violation of the election code by the “Office of Lina Hildago” social media account for political purposes! Instead of promoting Voter Registration through the actual @HarrisCountyTAC and Voter Registrar @VoteAnnBennett’s office, http://hctax.net site, Judge Lina cannot stop herself from blatant political activity as she posted this video shot on county property on her Offical Harris County X account. She is officially directing Voters to and linking to the Purely Partisan http://IWILLVOTE.COM, a paid for by the @DNC, Democrat National Committee site with a “Copyright @ 2024 DNC Services Organization”!!, tweeted Bettencourt.
The Democratic National Committee has clearly indicated that their IWillVote program is partisan in nature. On a website discussing the program, the DNC stated that the purpose of IWillVote is to provide information “so that voters can access all the information they need to register and cast their vote for Democrats up and down the ballot.”
The IWillVote website also includes a disclaimer that individuals who send a text message to the hotline promoted on the website “are consenting to receive recurring and/or automated text messages & calls from the DNC with news & info about our work.”
Bettencourt also referenced Hidalgo’s track record of misusing Harris County resources for political purposes. As previously reported by The Texas Voice, Hidalgo held an official press conference last year in which she attacked Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and announced her support for Ogg’s Democratic Primary opponent, Sean Teare. The press conference was held on county property and organized by Hidalgo’s county staff. It was also broadcast and posted on Hidalgo’s official county social media accounts.
Earlier this year, Hidalgo agreed to pay a $500 civil penalty to the Texas Ethics Commission after the Commission determined that Hidalgo’s press conference constituted political advertising and that there was “credible evidence” that Hidalgo violated Section 255.003(a) of the Texas Election Code, which prohibits public officials and employees from using government resources on political advertising.
In that order, Hidalgo also acknowledged “that an officer or employee of a political subdivision may not knowingly spend or authorize the spending of public funds or use public resources for political advertising” and agreed “to comply with this requirement of the law.”
