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Texas legislators are required by law to disclose who pays for their out-of-town trips and how much. But one newcomer to the state legislature has gone the extra mile, disclosing where she went, when she traveled and the exact costs of lodging and transportation.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat, went all the way on the personal financial disclosure form she submitted last year, disclosing more than is technically required on the forms that must be turned in to the Texas Ethics Commission.

That's one of the most interesting things Texas Watchdog turned up in its review of the ethics forms filed by the new legislature's freshman class. (Click here to see the freshman lawmakers listed by name, with links to their ethics forms, as an alternative to our map above.)

Nineteen new House members and two new senators were sworn into office this week. Their ethics forms are public record, but Texas Watchdog's report today is the first time they have been made available en masse on the Web. The forms were submitted in 2008 and cover calendar year 2007.

The state Ethics Commission does not post the forms on its Web site. As we've previously reported, the Ethics Commission says it is required by law to collect and record the names and identifying information of everyone who accesses the files at the Ethics Commission office in Austin -- a law that predates (and ignores) the Internet Age.

Consulting work

Alvarado, who has taken the House seat vacated by Rick Noriega for his unsuccessful run against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, isn't a stranger to controversy. She gave up the title of Houston mayor pro tem in 2006, but retained her city council seat, after employees in the mayor pro tem's office were accused of padding their paychecks with $143,000 worth of undeserved bonuses. Two employees reached plea deals with prosecutors, while two others were cleared, and Alvarado was not personally accused of criminal activities.

Her day job also raised some eyebrows among ethics-watchers. She's a consultant, and as a 2006 Chronicle profile reported, she earned "consulting fees primarily for advising out-of-town Hispanic-owned businesses on the how-tos of seeking public contracts" -- while serving on the City Council. She later worked as a consultant for Houston's Metro system.

Houston-based writer Slampo wrote on his blog in 2006:

An elected public official counseling private businesses on how to snare public contracts. The beckoning vista for potential conflicts would seem to be broad and wide. Should we just presume that Alvarado is not taking fees for advising these firms on how to do business with the city of Houston (which we guess would be like Pete Rose NOT betting on baseball)? And that she does not conduct this sideline business out of her council office(s)?

In 2007, the year she left the council, Alvarado abstained from a vote appointing businessman Kase Lawal to the Port of Houston's oversight board, The Chronicle reported at the time -- Lawal is chief of Camac International, and Alvarado had done consulting work for the firm. Alvarado reported on her 2008 ethics form that she had worked for Camac Holdings of Houston as a consultant in 2007.

We put in a call to her Austin legislative office Wednesday afternoon but had not heard back by the time this story published on Friday. If we are able to get some comments from Alvarado, we'll update this story and share them with you.

Travel expenses

According to her ethics form, she did a fair amount of travel on official business in 2007, largely as an officer for two groups, the Texas Municipal League and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. The league paid for her to travel to Austin four times, once to Dallas and once to Washington, D.C. NALEO sent her to Orlando twice and Seattle once; the New America Alliance of Dallas sent her to Albuquerque that August.

It's not unusual for legislators to disclose having taken trips underwritten by similar organizations. What is different is that Alvarado offered so much detail about her travel. Example: For her Jan. 8-9, 2007 trip to Austin, the municipal league paid $237.30 for airfare and $419.10 for lodging.

That's above and beyond what other lawmakers -- both freshmen and old-timers -- reported on their ethics forms. (Texas Watchdog published the ethics forms of the state's 181-then lawmakers in October, so we've seen a whole lot of ethics forms.)

Among this year's freshman class in Austin, there are doctors, lawyers, a retired cop (Rep. Allen Fletcher of Tomball), a former judge (Sen. Joan Huffman), a dentist (Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra), a marketing executive (Rep. Angie Chen Button), an air conditioning contractor (Rep. Randy Weber), a supervisor for the state comptroller's office (Rep. Diana Maldonado), and a young West Texas prosecutor who listed paying off his student loans as one of his outstanding debts (Rep. Joe Moody).

Hunter's lobbyist connections

Of the 21 freshmen, only one reported being in business with or having a business interest in common with a lobbyist: State Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican and lawyer who worked as a lobbyist for a time after a previous stint in the legislature.

Hunter's lobbying work was brought up as an issue in his general election campaign last year, namely his representation of Texas Windstorm Insurance, which has an extensive un-fanclub among coast-dwelling South Texans.

Hunter reported that his business interest shared with a lobbyist is his law firm, Hunter and Handel of Corpus Christi. He also reported being paid by a lobbyist, or a lobbyist's employer, in 2007: $25,000 or more from both the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and the Texas Association of Counties; between $10,000-$24,999 each from the Texas Travel Industry Association and Koch Industries.

He also reported $700 in expenses picked up under the honorarium exemption by the state bar association.

Like Alvarado, we hadn't yet heard back from Hunter by the time we published this story on Friday. But if we do get some comments from him, we'll update this story.


New Senators
Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth
Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston

New House members
Carol Alvarado, D-Houston
Angie Chen Button, R-Richardson
Al Edwards, D-Houston
Allen Fletcher, R-Tomball
Carol Kent, D-Dallas
Ken Legler, R-Pasadena
Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock
Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso
Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels
Robert Miklos, D-Mesquite
Joe Moody, D-El Paso
Tim Kleinschmidt, R-Lexington
Tara Rios Ybarra, D-San Antonio
Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston
Mark Shelton, R-Fort Worth
Chris Turner, D-Arlington
Armando Walle, D-Houston
Randy Weber, R-Pearland

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