Rep. Claudia Rodiguez of District 6, who is running for reelection, has repeatedly failed to file her campaign disclosures correctly. Candidates are required by Texas law to share information about their contributions and expenditures in order to be transparent with the media and the public at large.
Three days ago, Elida S. Perez of El Paso Matters published a report on the latest financial disclosures of the City Council candidates.
Before you read her assessment of Rodriguez, grab some popcorn and a beer…
“Incumbent District 6 city Rep. Claudia Lizette Rodriguez’s campaign finance report contains conflicting information. One section of the report states she collected about $47,000 in contributions, but only itemized about $7,000. Separately, she also lists a $4,000 in-kind contribution from the El Paso Association of Firefighters for a campaign mailer.
Rodriguez did not make herself available for a phone interview. In a text message, she said a technical error led to the discrepancy as her report ‘populated my year-to-date contributions and I’m working with IT to resolve that issue.’
She also said via the text that there was another discrepancy in her report: ‘There is a $4,000 in-kind donation in there so that total is higher, but it will be corrected as soon as IT gives me green light.’ She didn’t provide the correct total.
This is not the first time Rodriguez has had discrepancies on her reports. Her previous filing lacked key details that may have been a violation of Texas campaign finance law. She filed an amended report days after El Paso Matters published a story on the matter.”
She is “working with IT” to resolve the issue? I did not see an IT specialist cited in her financial disclosures.
WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
Tallying the figures from all her reporting, Rodriguez raised over $45,000 and spent over $40,000.
She reports that she has $2,760 cash on hand.
She has sent out only one mailer, plus two texts.
Strange.