san antonio – Did the Bexar County District Attorney violate campaign finance laws through his association with the Wren Group?
The Wren Collective, a criminal justice reform organization, has been investigating its relationship with KSAT, the prosecutor's office, for several weeks.
We examined more than 200 pages of text messages between the prosecutor's office and the Austin-based group, obtained through open records requests.
Messages include discussions of policy, court cases, public messages, and campaign references.
We asked lawyers with expertise in ethics and campaign law.
Andrew Kates is a Texas political attorney with years of experience helping elected officials and candidates figure out what they can and cannot do while serving or running for office.
We asked Cates whether District Attorney Joe Gonzalez should have disclosed campaign contributions from the Wren Group on his campaign finance reports.
“It depends on what they offer him, not just as an elected official, but as a candidate,” Cates said. “If it's something he would otherwise have to pay for, like I said, I think it could probably be an in-kind (donation).”
In-kind donations, which candidates and officials typically have to pay, are provided free of charge. These contributions, like any monetary contribution, must be disclosed on your campaign finance report.
KSAT reviewed Gonzalez's report and found no mention of the wren population.
Watch next: What are the rules for campaign donations? KSAT explains
“I can talk to you about the campaign.”
There are two text conversations we specifically asked Kates about.
In one message, Wren Collective founder Jessica Brand tells Gonzales: Either is fine as long as they don't happen at the same time. ”
Cates said separating campaign and official communications was “a smart move…but it certainly sounds like campaign communications going on.”
In a separate conversation before the event, Gonzalez asked Brand: “Is it better to just not mention anything about re-election in November, or to stay away from partisan politics and avoid mentioning Republicans like the governor? Is it okay?” he asked.
Brand responded, “Yes, I think it's just gun violence. It has nothing to do with the campaign.”
Cates said the conversation sounded like campaign advice.
At one point in the exchange, Gonzalez asked to move the conversation to a private email.
We also requested copies of those messages.
In addition to campaign advice, Cates said he would have advised the state attorney's office to seek county approval to work with the wren group for public communications.
“If you don't have a contract anywhere, that's suspicious,” Cates said.
We asked the Wren Group and the National Police Agency to document the contract, but the response KSAT received was that it did not exist in the records.
Our team has attempted to contact Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai since we began reporting on this story, but was unable to reach him.
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