Darnella Wilkerson is not the kind of person who comes to mind when people think of political corruption. A soft-spoken, older black woman, she sought to make a modest impact in Houston’s local politics by serving as treasurer of the African American Caucus (AAC), a small political action committee she registered in September 2019.

Her story is not one of influence peddling or even big political spending. Wilkerson disclosed just $3,458.60 in expenditures, to fund a photographer and police escort for a single political event. Yet her attempts to navigate Texas’s campaign finance laws led to a crushing $17,500 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), public accusations of wrongdoing, and the end of her political involvement.

A Bureaucratic Nightmare

Wilkerson’s trouble began when a rival blogger filed a complaint with the TEC in 2021. He alleged that AAC’s campaign finance reports failed to disclose the source of funds for the $3,458.60 in expenditures that Wilkerson had voluntarily disclosed. Wilkerson had filed campaign finance reports for the PAC but had not properly filled out the forms, so the TEC opened a confidential investigation.

Without the assistance of an attorney, Wilkerson sent copies of her bank records to the TEC. They showed just $2,775 in contributions, most of which flowed through Wilkerson’s personal savings account before being deposited into the PAC’s main account.

Dissatisfied that Wilkerson had redacted portions of her personal bank records, TEC investigators subpoenaed all of Wilkerson’s bank records from Woodforest National Bank, a small bank with branches in Wal-Mart that serves small banking customers like Wilkerson.

As the TEC’s order complained:

Included among these documents is a partial bank statement, large sections of which Wilkerson had covered in black marker. The respondent applied these would-be redactions without legal authority.

The records showed that all contributions were minor—such as $250 checks from local Democrat candidates Wilkerson supported. Despite the modest sums involved, TEC investigators accused Wilkerson of concealing the sources of the contributions.

The investigation spiraled from a question about forms into accusations that Wilkerson had schemed with another local PAC to “conceal extensive campaign financial activity from public scrutiny by evading the legal disclosure requirements.” Wilkerson was accused of being a “conduit.”

Targeting Small-Time Players

Wilkerson’s predicament was exacerbated by her limited resources and by the secretive nature of TEC proceedings. Operating in closed-door hearings in the basement of the Texas Capitol, no one knew that Wilkerson even needed help until it was too late.

When TEC summoned her to a hearing in Austin, she explained in writing that she had “no means of transportation to appear.” Instead of offering accommodations, the TEC fined her $2,500 for failing to attend its hearing, ultimately finding her in default and imposing a $15,000 default judgment as well.

Her case exemplifies the disproportionate power of the TEC over citizens engaged in small-scale political activity. As TEC Chair Jim Clancy admitted in a 2013 interview:

Those people who come to us, who try to disclose, are typically the ones who are fined. People who don’t report, who ignore the disclosure system, those folks are rarely involved… [T]hose people who try to comply are punished for doing so.

Vice Chairman Paul Hobby affirmed the agency’s role in a chilling speech, saying:

You ought to see these people who leave our meetings in tears, these sweet, simple people who missed a box, missed a deadline. They get a letter and they can’t sleep at night, they hire a lawyer they can’t afford. There’s no moral sanction here, they’re not convicted felons. But these people swear, they promise, “I’ll never participate in the process again.”

Wilkerson is one of these “sweet, simple people,” a grassroots activist crushed by the system because she attempted to disclose her political activities.

As a result of the TEC’s abuse, Wilkerson resigned as treasurer, shut down AAC, and announced her intention to move to New York to escape harassment in Texas. In August of 2024, the TEC’s $17,500 fine was recorded as a default judgment against Wilkerson when she failed to appear and oppose the state’s lawsuit in a Travis County district court. The TEC’s judgment now grows at 8.5 percent interest per annum. 

Fake News and Misplaced Priorities

The Houston Chronicle reported on Wilkerson’s fine with a sensational headline, accusing her and another local activist of “selling” endorsements. This accusation originated from TEC’s assertion that AAC had taken contributions from candidates who later appeared on an endorsement slate the group funded, a routine practice. Yet all candidates and donors involved denied wrongdoing.

As judicial candidate Grant Harvey put it: “I thought the political action committee was entirely legit… I donated to [AAC] because I was impressed with the work [it] was doing.”

Wilkerson’s fines stemmed not from “selling endorsements” but from technical violations, like failing to disclose contributions in the proper format. Meanwhile, the TEC relied on convoluted reasoning to paint routine transactions as evidence of bad faith. For instance, Wilkerson briefly deposited $2,775 in her personal account before transferring it to AAC’s PAC account, leading TEC to claim she intended to “conceal” the source of those funds.

The Bigger Picture

Wilkerson’s $17,500 fine is punitive in the extreme, considering the scale of her activities. While her PAC handled less than $4,000 in total activities, political campaigns in Texas routinely spend millions. According to Transparency USA, Texans spent over $750 million on political expenditures during the 2024 campaign cycle. In contrast, politicians frequently negotiate slap-on-the-wrist punishments payable from their political contributions.

Citizens Call for Reform

Darnella Wilkerson’s story is one of many that have fueled a growing grassroots outcry against the Texas Ethics Commission. Advocates for reform argue the Commission’s overreach, exemplified by Wilkerson’s ordeal, has turned the TEC into an instrument of abuse rather than oversight. Along with the Republican Party of Texas, grassroots leaders are calling for legislators to end the TEC’s jurisdiction over private citizens as the agency undergoes review at the Texas Sunset Commission this session.

For now, Wilkerson’s story serves as a warning. The TEC’s system does not distinguish between technical errors and bad faith. It targets those who attempt to participate in the political process, in particular those who attempt to disclose their activity but fail to do so correctly. This leaves a chilling message: attempted compliance is not enough to avoid punishment.

Wilkerson’s ordeal highlights the urgent need to reform the TEC’s enforcement process. Grassroots activists should not be dragged behind closed doors in the capitol to answer for alleged paperwork errors related to their core First Amendment-protected speech. The TEC must be redirected to enforce the laws against public officials, not private citizens.

This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.

Tony McDonald

Tony McDonald serves as General Counsel to Texas Scorecard. A licensed and practicing attorney, Tony specializes in the areas of civil litigation, legislative lawyering, and non-profit regulatory compliance. Tony resides in Fort Worth with his wife and daughter.

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