County judge candidate fined for campaign violations

Mark Jones, Hays County Commissioner for Pct. 2 and Republican candidate for Hays County Judge, has been fined $500 for campaign finance violations.

The Texas Ethics Commission found Jones failed to file his January 2021 semiannual campaign finance report in a timely manner and failed to file a campaign treasurer appointment for the first half of 2022. Jones said he’s been in office for more than a decade and these are his first campaign finance violations.

“We thought we had filed [the reports],” Jones told the San Marcos Daily Record. “It just slipped through the cracks.”

Jones’ January 2021 semiannual report was due on Jan. 15, 2021. TEC documentation stated there was credible evidence that Jones filed the report late, violating Section 254.063 of the Texas Election Code.

The TEC also found there was credible evidence Jones accepted campaign contributions and/or made or authorized campaign expenditures during a time when he had no appointed campaign treasurer on file, violating Section 253.031(a) of the Texas Election Code.

According to the TEC, Jones filed a campaign treasurer appointment with Hays County on Aug. 27, 2009, and he has never filed a final report.

The failure to file campaign treasurer appointment stemmed from Jones’ filed January 2022 semiannual report, where a new campaign treasurer was listed. The TEC stated at that time that Jones had not filed an amended campaign treasurer appointment form with Hays County to officially appoint a new treasurer.

“The respondent stated that the change in campaign treasurers occurred on or around January 1,” the TEC sworn complaint said. “Therefore, the evidence indicates that the respondent did not have a campaign treasurer appointment on file from January 1, 2022 through July 25, 2022.”

The Hays County Commissioner filed his January 2021 semiannual report late on July 25, disclosing $0 in total political contributions and $0 in total expenditures.

However, TEC documents state that between Jan. 1 and June 30, Jones accepted political contributions totaling $34,712.75 and political expenditures totaling $17.588.53.

The Texas Ethics Commission imposed a $500 civil penalty for the campaign finance violation. Jones consented to the proposed resolution on Sept. 9. TEC executed the resolution on Oct. 5.

Jones is running for county judge against incumbent Democrat Ruben Becerra. Early voting for the Nov. 8 election begins Monday, Oct. 24.