Forest Hill mayor fined for violating Texas Election code
Forest Hill Mayor Gerald Joubert was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine after the Texas Ethics Commission found that he violated numerous sections of the election code.
According to the ethics commission report, Joubert accepted contributions from a corporation, improperly documented campaign expenditures and failed to properly list his name and address on reports.
The report found that Joubert accepted four prohibited political contributions, three of which were “intertwined” with Conatser Construction Inc. and included JRC Investments, Inc., JRC Management, L.L.C., and Jerry Conatser.
The contribution was for $2,500. Jerry Conatser contributed to Joubert’s 2017 campaign as well as Conatser Site Services.
When asked about the commission’s findings on accepting contributions from corporations, Joubert said, “I thought that they were from a personal friend of mine (Jerry Conatser). I’ve known him for 10 years.”
Conatser could not be reached for comment.
Joubert also said he thought he had filed all the necessary reports after the ethics commission indicated he failed to file required reports, including those for the runoff election earlier this year.
The ethics commission stated that there was “insufficient credible evidence” of an election code violation from Conatser Construction and Conatser Site Services.
The order was issued after the commission met on Nov. 20 to review a complaint filed by former council member Michielle Benson.
Her complaint alleged that Joubert violated eight sections of the Texas Election Code, which included accepting contributions from corporations; making or authorizing political expenditures wholly or partly from political contributions that he knew to have been made by corporations and failing to file several required campaign finance reports.
Meanwhile, Benson, who filed the complaint in 2018 after reading campaign finance reports, said she was surprised at the number of violations.
“The ethics commission went through this (complaint) with a fine-tooth comb,” she said.
Benson said she spent $325 on her council race.
“Why in the world would you spend that kind of money (referring to the corporate contributions to Joubert). If there is a problem, find the money trail.”
Joubert did not return money from the corporate contributions, according to the ethics commission findings. The report also said that Joubert signed a statement indicating that he was aware of the restrictions of accepting contributions from corporations and labor organizations.
Besides facing campaign finance violations, Joubert was also indicted on charges that he tampered with a government record involving recall petitions for another former council member, Stephanie Boardingham.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 1:02 PM.