The union representing San Antonio police officers was fined Friday for an ethics violation.
The violation related to its spending on a 2021 ballot proposition that would have stripped the body of its collective bargaining power.
The bruising campaign over Prop B was fueled by police accountability advocates and began in the wake of the George Floyd killing at the hands of Minneapolis police the previous summer.
The measure aimed at stripping the police of its union power would have given the public more say in contracts and potentially allowed for police leaders to better punish officers who break the rules. The San Antonio Police Officers Association argued it would have hurt recruitment.
The ballot initiative lostby less than 3%.
Jason Sanchez, the treasurer of the SAPOA, reported two expenditures totaling more than $600,000 to the elections office under his own name rather than under the unions. He said it was due to a lack of space on the form. He did include a memo with each filing that pointed out that he was the treasurer.
But the Texas Ethics Commission found that the filing was misclassified and violated elections code. “SAPOA spent $615,382.70 in connection with a measure election," it said. "None of this spending was reported where it could easily be seen by members of the public.”
Reform advocates said at the time that the San Antonio Police Officers Association was attempting to disguise its influence.
“They do sway elections, They do buy legislators. They do buy votes. And this is proof that they are spending serious money in local elections,” said Ananda Tomas, executive director of Act4SA, a police accountability group in San Antonio.
She filed the complaint in February of this year.
SAPOA President Danny Diaz said in a statement of Friday that the "San Antonio Police Officers’ Association fully cooperated with the Texas Ethics Commission throughout the proceeding to address this matter. We have consented to their proposed resolution and have resolved the sworn complaint."
It was fined $5,000. The TEC has a maximum fine of $10,000.
"While we know this is pennies for them, it's very substantial and proving that not only does a police union spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to sway a vote to drown out our voices, to buy politicians," Tomas said. "But that they will go to illegal measures to do it."
