The raid on a Fort Worth gay bar late last month, a joint effort by the Fort Worth Police and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, outraged gay rights advocates and drew national attention to Texas law enforcement agencies. The state commission and local police department were accused of brutality. Soon afterward Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead initiated an investigation into the officers' behavior and suspended joint operations with the TABC.

But accountability from the beverage commission officials may be slow in coming. The Austin-American Statesman wrote Sunday that the investigation into the Rainbow Lounge incident is underway, but that critics say the agency has a history of failing to adequately address complaints:

An October 2004 report by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission found that the agency "lacks a consistent and formal approach to investigating and resolving complaints against its employees." Documents generated by a 2007 wrongful arrest lawsuit in East Texas describe TABC internal investigations as ineffective.

When complaints were made against agents making improper arrests and demonstrating rude or excessively physical behavior, the agency's internal affairs unit often conducted perfunctory reviews that came to nothing...

Officials interviewed by the Statesman recalled an incident in which TABC Administrator Alan Steen had ordered a liquor license violation against a Dallas establishment be dropped. The owner of the club was a relative of state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, who had called an agency official about the violation:

An incident in which Steen ordered a case against a Dallas club owner charged with a license violation dropped. "The club owner was a relative of State Sen. Royce West, who called me about the incident," Alexander wrote.

West has been in the spotlight on this Web site recently. Texas Watchdog tallied up the bill charged by West's firm to several public agencies:

The Democrat provides legal counsel for a series of local governments and agencies including Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the city of Dallas and the Dallas Community College District. In 2008, the state senator’s 10-person law firm West and Associates, where his son works as a paralegal, billed at least five public-sector clients in his home county close to $1 million....

West has authored legislation that would affect — and, in some cases, help — the cities and school districts that make up his client base, a fact that raises questions about whether he has maintained a bright line between his role as lawmaker and his private lawyering work.

That story sparked further questions about West's legal work and legislative agenda by the Dallas Observer.

Texas Watchdog also reported that West had sponsored a plan to make it easier to enlarge public contracts:

West’s bill would allow a governing body to delegate more oversight of a vendor to a middleman.

This person, in turn, would have the authority to approve a change in the contract so long as the revision costs less than $50,000 and is not more than 25 percent of the original contract amount. Under current law, elected bodies generally have to approve any contract changes of more than $25,000 during a regularly scheduled meeting.

The plan did not go far in the Senate, never coming up for a committee vote.