The 2023 City Council race is underway and early voting will begin on April 24th. Candidates running for office must abide by rules established by the Texas Ethics commission. There are various rules and regulations pertaining to candidate campaigns and one of those includes proper campaign finance reporting. All candidates must follow an established financial reporting schedule during their campaign, providing transparency to voters, which requires information on the individuals and entities that are funding their campaign.
City Council candidates, unless unopposed as Sarah Salgado and Cecil Chambers are, were to file their initial finance reports to the local entity (City Secretary) by 5:00pm on April 6th. I completed a Public Information Request for all finance reports filed by all candidates and the only reports filed were by Mayoral candidate Mike Thomas and Place 6 candidate Nate Dettmer. I followed up with the City Secretary just to make sure what I received was all that was turned in and she confirmed that to be true. I also confirmed if any candidates had elected to file a modified finance reporting schedule which allows for a modified filing schedule if contributions or expenditures are to be less than $940. The only candidate that selected the modified reporting schedule was Place 6 candidate Greg Helm. For several weeks now campaign signs from all candidates have been placed around Forney, including those of Mr. Roberson. Additionally, Mr. Roberson has maintained web services for his campaign website, hosted a candidate meet and greet at Eno’s Pizza, which included food accommodations, and utilized professional photography and video services, all of which qualify as expenditures and/or donations that are required to be reported. Mr. Roberson has often touted ethics reform at City Hall during his campaign with one of his proposed requirements being “campaign finance reports be placed online with no open records request required”. Meanwhile, he has now violated Texas Ethics Commission requirements pertaining to proper campaign finance reporting. As of today, Mr. Roberson’s finance reports have not been posted on his campaign website or social media pages. See below for the financial reports filed by Mayoral candidate Mike Thomas and Place 6 candidate Nate Dettmer.