Texas Comptroller Leaves A Business Role Off His Disclosure. It Was Unpaid, Apparently.

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines has a helpful answer to questions about an undisclosed business role: he didn’t get paid.

Unfortunately, Texas had asked what jobs he held, not whether he should renegotiate his compensation.

The Texas Tribune reports that Huffines omitted his leadership role at HEST, a firm whose portfolio includes SpaceX, from his February financial disclosure. A September state filing still listed him as a manager. The role made it onto the company’s state paperwork, but not the paperwork that informs the public. A selective clerical achievement.

His campaign says he has no personal ownership interest in HEST or SpaceX, receives no income from either and hasn’t influenced incentives for an entity in which he has financial involvement. The SpaceX-related tax breaks predate his tenure. None of that establishes personal enrichment, and none makes unpaid executive positions exempt from disclosure.

Lawmakers actually considered limiting the requirement to paid positions in 2023. The proposal failed. A disappointing result for anyone already filling out the form under the law they would have preferred.