Did U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas’ 15th Congressional District violate ethics rules that prohibit House members from “engaging in professions that provide services involving a fiduciary relationship, including the practice of law”?
It depends on whom you ask. Gonzalez obviously doesn’t think so, but there’s no denying that the optics are bad. Nor can it be denied that the timing is suspicious, and that Gonzalez secured a big chunk of change for what couldn’t have been a whole lot of work – unless he continued to do the work after he was sworn in as a member of Congress.
There’s also the fact that Gonzalez made no effort to avoid the appearance of impropriety, which he could have done simply by giving up his claim to a contingency fee negotiated two weeks before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, which left only two months to earn his fee before assuming office in January 2017.
Maybe Gonzalez wasn’t confident about winning the election and wanted to keep his practice going just in case. Fair enough. Makes perfect sense. But after his victory? Time to start shutting things down, right? Time to transfer commitments to other parties, disengage from day-to-day operations, make sure you’re going to be in full compliance with the rules of the governing body you’ve just become a member of.
This is where it gets murky.
As a congressman, Gonzalez has an annual salary of $174,000, which the vast majority of his constituents only wish they had, even in good times. Nevertheless, for the few weeks, ostensibly, of legal service that he provided to Hidalgo County on a construction defect lawsuit, he garnered more than $118,000! It makes you wonder why he “gave up” his practice to run for office. Could it possibly be that our public servants have figured out ways to pad their salaries by monetizing their positions of public trust?
Enjoy it while you can, Gonzalez. A day of reckoning is coming.