The ethics of Wendy Davis's bond business

Breitbart:
Amid increasing scrutiny regarding legislator ethics, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis profited from government bond work as a co-bond counsel through her law firm Newby Davis PLLC, according to San Antonio press.

 

Just last month, Newby Davis helped float a $201.5 million bond for the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and a $319 million bond for the Tarrant Regional Water District, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The two-person law firm has served as a co-bond counsel for 20 deals since 2010, resulting in $6.3 billion in refinancing cases, according to the local report. The profits made by Davis' firm are unknown at this time.

According to the Express-News, concerns have been raised in relation to the Tarrant Regional Water District's bond--Sandy Newby, the wife of Davis' law partner Brian Newby, is the water district's finance director.

Pointing to the fact that Davis' partner is African American, water district spokesman Chad Lorance told the Express-News that Newby Davis was chosen to float the bond because the firm met the district's minority goals.
...
This practice is part of the minority spoil system many political subdivisions have imposed on the sale of bonds.  These small firms do not have the reputation that would allow them to write the bond opinion on their own, so they in effect free ride on the opinion of larger more experienced bond council from major firms.  It is a political payoff.  The bond markets could care less about their opinions.  It is a waste of taxpayer money.

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