GILMER, TEXAS (KYTX) Monday we told you about the campaign finance allegations against Upshur county district judge Lauren Parish. Now she's fighting back.
In a statement judge parish calls her accusers tea party extremists. A report filed with the Texas ethics commission charges that judge Lauren Parish violated several campaign laws. James Doyle, a Conroe man on the Texas Ethics Advisory board made the complaint.
"There's a lot of corruption everywhere I look but I want to make sure they all know there's somebody watching," says Doyle.
Tuesday judge Parish's attorney says all the allegations are bogus including one of an unlawful campaign contribution. "The one that was the headliner was that she paid her husband. The problem of course is that she's not married," says Samuel Baxter.
Paid her non-existent husband for campaign work. The money actually went to her brother - which is a legal transaction. Other complaints include that she did not include the proper address in a campaign report. "If the big complaint is you put a P.O. Box instead of a street address, somebody needs to take a serious look at how we handle these complaints.
The group making the complaint against judge Parish calls themselves the Texas ethics Advisory Board. It sounds official but what they really are is a political group bringing complaints against democrats and republicans alike. "It's a pack of tea party nut cases and they send press releases out as if they are representing the Texas Ethics Commission and nothing could be further from the truth," says Baxter.
Judge Parish released a statement saying "as a result of these ridiculous allegations made by tea party extremists, elected officials such as myself have to sacrifice their job duties and obligations we have to our constituency in order to spend the time necessary to respond to such absurdities."
Elissa, who works in downtown Gilmer agrees. "It's all about politics. That's what it all boils down to politics," says Elissa Allen.
James Doyle also accuses judge Parish of giving $1,500 to the Texas Democratic Committee. He says that's more than the $250 maximum allowed during a non-election year.
Again, the judge's attorney says all allegations are untrue. The Texas Ethics Commission will review the complaint within the next few weeks.
