A Democratic candidate for State Representative who has habitually violated Texas campaign finance disclosure laws currently owes $34,000 in unpaid civil penalties to the Texas Ethics Commission as well as delinquent property taxes in Harris County.
Stephanie Morales, the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 138, did not file any campaign finance disclosure reports for her current campaign for State Representative until earlier this week. The report she filed on October 17 was supposed to have been filed no later than July 15 and covered campaign finance activity between January 1 and June 30, 2024.
As of the publishing of this article, Morales still had not filed a 30-day pre-election campaign finance report that was due on October 7 and covered campaign activity between July 1 and September 26. Morales also failed to file a required campaign finance report due on January 16, 2024, that covered the period between July 1 and December 31, 2023.
Morales is challenging incumbent Republican State Representative Lacey Hull in Texas House District 138, which covers a portion of Harris County. The Houston Chronicle and the Texas affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers labor union have endorsed Morales’ campaign.
Morales’ failure to comply with campaign finance and ethics disclosure laws is not new. As a candidate for State Representative in 2022, Morales also failed to file mandatory campaign finance reports prior to and after the 2022 general election.
According to data available on the Texas Ethics Commission website, Morales currently owes $33,500 in civil penalties for her failure to file campaign finance reports on time. The Commission’s website also shows that Morales owes a $500 civil penalty for failing to file a personal financial statement on time.
Morales has also failed to pay her property taxes on time as well.
Information obtained from the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s office indicates that Morales currently owes $5,201.41 in delinquent property taxes for 2023, which includes penalties and interest. Morales was also late paying her 2021 and 2022 property taxes to the Harris County tax office.
Although she has attempted to portray herself as a champion of public education on the campaign trail, Morales has also failed to pay her school taxes on time.
The Spring Branch ISD tax office’s website shows that Morales did not pay her 2023 property taxes due to the District until last week. As a result of her delinquent pax payment, Morales was forced to pay $840.98 in penalties and interest and $969.12 in attorney’s fees in addition to the property taxes due on her account.
As is the case with her taxes due to the Harris County tax office, Morales has also regularly been late in paying her property taxes due to Spring Branch ISD.
Records from the Spring Branch ISD tax office show that she did not pay her 2022 property taxes to the District until January 12, 2024. This late payment resulted in the imposition of $970.92 in penalties and interest and $1,003.29 in attorney’s fees. Morales also failed to pay her 2020 and 2021 school property taxes on time, resulting in interest and penalties being assessed.
Morales works as an attorney, with a significant portion of her caseload coming from criminal defense appointments in Harris County courts. According to data obtained from the Harris County Auditor’s website, Morales has been paid $215,727.50 by Harris County so far this year.
Among Morales’ current clients is a Defendant who is facing a felony charge of child abandonment. According to court records, Morales’ client allegedly left a naked two-year-old child “home alone for twenty-four hours, without accessible food and with visible urine and feces within reach of the child.”
Morales also currently represents Defendants accused of a variety of crimes, including family violence, injury to a child, injury to an elderly person, evading arrest, theft, online promotion of prostitution, DWI, criminal mischief, harassment of a public servant by spitting on a police officer, and other crimes.
