More than $1,000 was disbursed from Houston Independent School District board president’s Greg Meyers’ campaign account -- to Meyers himself, bank records show -- but not a dime of it is listed on his campaign finance report that was filed in July and covers the time period of the checks.

Meyers signed for the cash withdrawal and cut the checks that were dated and cleared the campaign account in January, February, March and April, bank documents obtained by Texas Watchdog show. The failure to report the payments and their purpose is a violation of Texas election law that can carry fines.

“I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, and I am going to be amending this first thing in the morning,” Meyers told Texas Watchdog Thursday afternoon.

MEYERS

Meyers said the payments actually totaled around $1,200 and were reimbursement for $1,514 in AT&T campaign phone bills he had paid. Those phone bills are listed beginning on page 5 of the report.

“I thought that if I put the expenses in both (schedules) F and G, then I would need to put that in the total,” Meyers said. “That would have doubled the amount that was due back to me. That is not my intent.”

The payments included: A cash withdrawal of $100 was posted to the “Greg Meyers Campaign” account by Meyers on Jan. 20. Meyers wrote himself a $250 check dated Feb. 19 that cleared the campaign account three days later. A month later he signed two more checks for $250 each. The checks were written on March 6 and March 31, clearing the account within days. He wrote a subsequent $200 check on April 17.

State campaign finance law permits candidates to reimburse themselves for campaign-related expenses as long as the expenses are itemized and reported --- Meyers did so in his January report, which noted the campaign reimbursed him for $550 in meals.

Meyers, who fills out his own campaign finance reports, first said he had never had to fill out the section of the reporting form that tracks personal expenses prior to the July report.

“I looked at the instructions and what it said to do. It was a live-and-learn moment. I have never done any reimbursements like this before.”

But the process for disclosing the payments to himself for phone expenses would have been identical to the one Meyers undertook in January for campaign-related meals.

“I don’t know. I don’t have it in front of me,” Meyers said in a second interview. “But I believe what you are saying and have no reason to doubt you. Obviously, I made a mistake, and I can amend it, and it is a miss on my part.”

Dr. Charles Mullins, the treasurer listed on Meyers’ campaign finance reports since at least 2008, said he has not had contact with Meyers in two or three months. Mullins is the father of Sandie Mullins, Meyers’ ex-wife.

“It was sort of just a title,” Mullins said. “I have never had any working with it.”

Candidates in Texas are required to disclose campaign expenses without exception, though small expenditures do not require the same level of detail as larger ones.

“Some payee would have to be tied to it,” Tim Sorrells, a lawyer at the Texas Ethics Commission, said of a scenario like Meyers’. “It is correct that if someone makes a political expenditure from campaign funds, it needs to be disclosed.”

Meyers was elected to the HISD board of education in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. He represents District VI, which includes Sharpstown and Westside high schools and encompasses an area north of Westheimer Road south to Bellfort Street.

Meyers said he expects his amended report to be available to be viewed Friday at the HISD Hattie Mae White building at 4400 West 18th St.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow @texaswatchdog on Twitter, or search #HISD, for news about the school district.