The city's ethics commission determined two Austin City Council candidates violated city financial disclosure rules last year. They were among several candidates who committed the same filing errors ahead of the November 2024 election, although most haven't faced formal ethics complaints or sanctions.

The setup

For transparency purposes, both Texas and Austin require political candidates to file financial statements ahead of an election. The materials cover personal information like income and business interests, and are separate from finance reports on campaign activities like fundraising. Ahead of the November general election, the disclosures and deadlines included:Incumbent candidates must also file the forms, but on a different reporting timeline outside the election cycle.

In Austin, failure to file SFIs can be punished as a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine up to $500. Violating the state PFS filing rules is a Class B misdemeanor offense carrying a fine up to $1,000.

How we got here


Last September, two 2024 candidates lodged civic ethics grievances against their opponents for late financial submissions in the summer.

Then-incumbent council member Mackenzie Kelly submitted a complaint against her challenger in the City Council District 6 contest, Krista Laine. Kelly was later defeated by Laine in the general election.

Kelly said she filed her complaint given concerns about tumbling public trust in all levels of government.

“Each time a standard is ignored or accountability is avoided, the public grows more cynical and faith in government withers," Kelly said Jan. 22.


District 10 council candidate Marc Duchen filed a complaint against his opponent Ashika Ganguly. Duchen, who ended up winning that race for the open council seat, said he wanted the ethics proceedings to serve as a springboard for improvements to the reporting process.

“I think my goal here ... is that we can have rules that people follow and that there’s also lending transparency to the process of running for office," he said. "My concern really is that, what happens if this is selectively enforced?"

While the two complaints were the only ones sent to Austin's Ethics Review Commission over late financial filings last year, about half of Austin's November candidates also failed to submit their statements on time or at all.

Mayoral and City Council contenders Jeffery Bowen, Doug Greco, Robert Reynolds, Louis Herrin, Monica Guzmán, Eduardo Romero, Jim Rabuck, Gary Bledsoe, Pierre Nguyễn, Todd Shaw and Edwin Bautista also each filed their city SFIs after the August deadline, according to city clerk records obtained through a public information request. All but Bowen also failed to submit their PFSs on time under state rules, according to the materials from the clerk's office.


What happened

Preliminary hearings in both cases were held in December, after the election. During final hearings Jan. 22, ethics commissioners unanimously found both Laine and Ganguly committed the violations.

Laine, who took office earlier in the month, said her delayed submission was a mistake and told the commission she'd accept any consequences they decided on.

“There was nothing nefarious; there was no ill intent," Laine said during her hearing. "This was simply an oversight."


She also noted the many other council hopefuls who failed to report their finances on time and said first-time candidates are not on a level playing field with incumbents, who can be notified of filing deadlines and don't have to compile reports as close to election day.

Ganguly, now serving as executive director of the transportation advocacy nonprofit Transit Forward, also admitted to her late filing and said she'd submitted her disclosure as soon as she realized her error.

"It was an innocent oversight, there was no malicious intent in the lack of filing of either of those forms. And I will also state that we filed both of those forms before we were made aware of the ethics complaint by the complainant," Ganguly told the commission.

While confirming the violations had taken place, commissioners didn't recommend any prosecution in either case. After the city attorney was informed of the outcomes, the Law Department didn't confirm possible next steps on enforcement against Laine and Ganguly, or other candidates with late filings, as of press time Jan. 24.


“The city’s Law Department advises the Ethics Review Commission on any complaints the city receives related to campaign finance. The city’s priority is to ensure transparency through voluntary compliance rather than criminal prosecution," a city spokesperson said in a statement.

Bill Aleshire, an attorney representing both Duchen and Kelly in their complaints, repeatedly asked the commission to take stronger action or formally ask the city attorney to respond to what he called a "systemic problem" with candidate compliance.

“If there is a message to come out of both of these hearings, it is an encouragement to the city attorney to use her authority to enforce the criminal statutes that relate to these elections," he said during the Jan. 22 meeting.

What they're saying

Following the hearing, Ganguly said she takes compliance with campaign finance rules seriously. She also suggested the city could take steps to make the policies and process clearer for future candidates.

"I’m grateful to the commission for understanding this in their outcome and am committed to doing what I can to use my experience as a first time candidate to help future candidates stay compliant," she said via text message. "It’s unfortunate that some people would rather focus on selectively punishing their political opposition rather than engaging in productive capacity building policies that will tangibly benefit future candidates and transparency in city elections."

Aleshire said he and his clients intended the ethics proceedings to "send a signal" to ramp up enforcement, and that it was unfortunate commissioners didn't recommend any prosecution.

"[T]his should be a new beginning for enforcement of financial disclosure by Austin mayor and City Council candidates. Frankly, the City Council should call on the city attorney to uniformly and routinely enforce the city code on campaign laws and financial disclosure, even if enforcement is necessary against the City Council members," Aleshire said in an email. "With the Ethics Commission decision, the ball is now in the city attorney’s court. Hopefully, the new city attorney will not continue to neglect this part of the city attorney’s prosecutorial duties."

He also expressed concern about a potential amendment to the city charter—on hold for now—that'd make the city attorney a position appointed by council, rather than the city manager. He said that change could "suppress" future prosecution of elected officials.

One more thing

Greco and incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson also faced ethics complaints during last year's election over campaign funds raised outside of Austin; city code caps the amount of campaign donations candidates can take outside city limits. The ethics commission ended up dismissing those cases with no findings of wrongdoing.