Texas attorney general rules on auditor’s request

BY DAVE LEWIS, Examiner publisher

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has ruled that Precinct 4 County Commissioner Pam Finke may not serve as a paid, part time county employee while she also serves as an elected official.

The four-page ruling, issued July 14, came in response to a Dec. 31, 2007, letter from County Auditor Buck LaQuey requesting the attorney general’s opinion after Finke began working as a part time jailer in the sheriff’s office last October.

Finke said Monday that she found out about the ruling on July 15 and immediately ceased accepting pay for the work she was performing.

According to Finke, last fall she was asked to fill in at the jail on weekends and after normal work hours since she had obtained jailer’s certification from the state. “I asked the county attorney, the Texas Association of Counties and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards if they saw any problems and I got no labor law objections,” she said.

Asked if she at any time considered the job a conflict, Finke said, “The sheriff’s office was already operating within its budget, and there were no extra people hired or expenditures that were approved by the commissioner’s court during this time.”

The AG’s opinion was sought to determine if a conflict of interest existed with Finke’s service as a county commissioner, a body which exercises decision-making authority with regard to budgetary and other operations within the sheriff’s office.

The county maintained that since the part time job was not an elected office, Finke should not be barred from working as a jailer and serving as a commissioner.

Abbott’s opinion echoed Local Government Code section 81.002(a), which “precludes a county commissioner from being paid for employment in the county sheriff’s department.”

Finke said she is continuing to work as a jailer but is doing so on a voluntary basis without pay.