August 21, 2020 Ms. Kay Shepard kayshepard@yahoo.com
Dear Ms. Shepard: This le@er is in response to your email requesCng to inspect the budget of the Harris County DemocraCc Party. As you are aware, you met with HCDP ExecuCve Director DJ Ybarra on August 11, 2020, to inspect the budget. You were permi@ed to do so. As I understand it, Mr. Ybarra followed established HCDP procedure of taping documents to the table to prevent their being removed or altered by individuals inspecCng them. The purpose of this procedure to to prevent removal or alternaCon of documents by individuals viewing HCDP records. While I am not suggesCng you would engage in such conduct, it is necessary that we have and adhere to a uniform policy and Mr. Ybarra was simply following that. It is also my understanding that when you complained to Mr. Ybarra that the font of the document you were inspecCng was too small, Mr. Ybarra printed another copy in a larger font to facilitate your inspecCon. The document which you were shown on August 11, 2020, is, in fact, the only budget of the Harris County DemocraCc Party for the fiscal period from July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021. It is the very document which was presented to and approved by the Steering Commi@ee at its meeCng on June 11, 2020, and which was presented to and approved by the CEC at its meeCng on June 27, 2020. There is no other version of this budget printed on le@erhead of the HCDP or containing more or other detail or otherwise different from the budget you were shown and permi@ed to inspect. Your August 14 e-mail requests that you be permi@ed to view the Primary Budget. There is no “Primary Budget,” because the primary is financed by the State of Texas, not the Harris County DemocraCc Party. However, the Party does submit a Cost EsCmate to the Secretary of State’s Office (actually prepared iniCally by SOS officials and submi@ed to the Party for approval). Now that the primary is over, the Party also will submit a Cost Report to the SOS to account for the funds actually spent and obtain final funding from the State. It did not occur to HCDP staff or me that those documents might be within the purview of your request, as they are not submi@ed to, or approved by, either the Steering Commi@ee or the CEC. However, we
are certainly willing to allow you to view those documents if you wish to do so.
As to a “budget” for the coordinated campaign, there is no document which itemizes proposed campaign expenditures specifically and by category. The reason is that campaign strategy requires that campaign expenditures be dictated by funds raised during the course of the campaign and in response to specific needs. At this point, it is impossible to predict how much money will be available from candidate contribuCons and other sources and how that money can best be expended, so no hands-tying campaign budget has been adopted. Moreover, it is imperaCve that plans concerning campaign expenditures not become available to opposing poliCcal parCes, enabling them to counter our strategy more effecCvely. So, HCDP entrusts the county chair to make decisions concerning expenditures of campaign funds in the chair’s discreCon and to be answerable to the voters at the next primary elecCon if there is disagreement with the campaign decisions made. I would remind you that you may find detailed informaCon about all expenditures of the Party, as well as receipts, on-line at the Texas Ethics Commission’s website (h@ps:// www.ethics.state.tx.us/search/cf/), where we file detailed reports semi-annually, or the Federal ElecCon Commission (h@ps://www.fec.gov/), where monthly finance reports are submi@ed.. This URL – h@ps://www.fec.gov/introducCon-campaign-finance/how-to-research-publicrecords/ – will tell you how to access federal campaign finance reports. These reports are filed on-line and while we maintain receipts for the Cmely filing of them, as well as summaries of their contents, we do not generally print off paper copies of the reports. You are welcome to inspect the receipts and summaries, if you wish, upon request. If you wish to inspect the budget again, or if you want to view the primary Cost EsCmate, or other documents, you may do so by contacCng Mr. Ybarra and informing him (in wriCng) of the specific or parCcular records or documents you wish to view. I have instructed him to make them available to you without their being taped to the table, as is our usual procedure. I remind you, however, that you are permi@ed to inspect the documents only and you are not permi@ed to make any copies of or notes from them. Also, you must maintain the informaCon contained in the documents completely confidenCal and cannot share any of it with anyone else (except for informaCon contained on reports filed with public officials, such as TEC or FEC finance reports). There are both security (protecCng candidates’ private informaCon, for example), privacy (protecCng people’s privacy interests), and strategic (protecCng party informaCon from public disseminaCon, especially to opposing parCes) reasons for this limitaCon. In fact, the Rules of the Texas DemocraCc Party specifically provide that “financial, legal, strategic, personnel, or disciplinary ma@ers” can be withheld from the public, and HCDP protects those criCcal confidenCality rights aggressively by, among other things, prohibiCng copies of proprietary informaCon and documents from being created or disseminated. (That is why, for example, we require that inspecCon of financial documents occur in person at the Party office, rather than providing them digitally or by mail to CEC members). I have discussed these ma@ers in depth with our general counsel to assure we comply faithfully with all HCDP By-Law, TDP Rules, and Texas ElecCon Code requirements. He advises that we have done so, and that this le@er reflects adherence to all relevant statutory and legal obligaCons of the Party.
Neither the HCDP nor I have any desire to withhold or hold back any records from inspecCon by members of the county execuCve commi@ee. At my direcCon, HCDP staff will endeavor to make the informaCon you request available for your inspecCon in a reasonable and Cmely manner, within limitaCons imposed by the COVID-19 crisis and work-at-home and other protocols necessitated by that pandemic. Please let us know if we can assist you with anything to make sure you have everything you need to turn out every democrat in your precinct. We appreciate all of your efforts to turn Texas blue and your energy focused on making the party be@er. Very truly yours,
Lillie Schechter, Chair, Harris County DemocraCc Party