Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1942 )

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OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
BoaorabloIL. L. l%lamm, Jr.
coaulty Audftor
Polk couaty
LirlngetoR, TexM
!\
Dears&m OpinioaX0. 0``F@-J
Ret himQrion.r”,~r
Cotuaty prohibit-
od rrar beina----1y intew-
eabM in eontraotwth~qxuef.
,a
“tcpli/polkCounty buy Gaeoiine, Oil and
Crease zrom t&s Arkanear Fuel it011 Oompany, of
Shnr6por$, Ia. through it* agenoya* Corrlgan,
Texas and oao o? tiv~Comn~is~lonofsa half in-
terestin the agonayI~a
Arti 373, Vern0.0~‘~
Annotated Texas Penal =odo,
read8 a0 follovmt
Honorable 3h.L. HIMOII, Jr., Pas* 1
*fr any offio*r of any oouaty,
or of any
city or town,shall beoono in any manner peou-
nluily IntersstodIn auy oontraota nade by
auoh oouaty, oity or town, through Its agents,
or otherwIe8, for the oonrrtruotlon OT repair
of any bridge, road, &met, allay or house,
or any other work undertaken by suoh dounty,
city or town, or sh6ll boooma IBtsm8ted In
any bid or propowl for such work or In ths
~u~ohaee OP sale of anything marlsfor or on
~aOOOUllt Of 6uoh OOUty, Oily Or t.Ora;02 Who
till 00BtmOt f-Op Op X’OOaiV,O3ly m0B.y Op
property, or the repxwrontativeof either, or
any emolument or advantagewhatsoarer In oon-
eidsratlonof auoh bid, proposal, oontraet,
purohase or sale, ha &all be fined not les8
than rift7 nor wee than five hundred dollars.**
In the ease of Rigby v1 State, 10 S.W. 760, a
oountp oommlaaionereold two mler to his county and wacl
botiPted under the sbova quoted artiole of the Penal Cade.
%?iquote iron the oourt’s dsolslon an followclr
Manifestly, the Legislature, in enaot-
ing the statute, intended thereby to proteot
omntieil, oities and towns from offloial
poulattfon. Suoh pasulationwas the ~41
sought to bo mt~prea~ed~ and the oktut.
mtrikar at the very root of the evil, by mah-
ing it an 0ireM0+ for any orriasr of a ewn-
ty, oity or tarn to bsooab interentsdpeou-
n$arlly in nattorclwherein such oorporationa
are lntoreated. The purpose of auoh artatute
1s to prevent offiolal WagiF’ from baing
remd and operated to prey upon the tr6a-
SUP~CI~ or oountierr, oitiea and torrmr)to pm-
rent the 0frioOrs of m&Oh oorporatlonsrrt3=
ueing their offioial knowledge and influenO0
to their individualpsouniary advantage iB
the rinanolal transaotIont3 OS such.
Our oon#truotIonof the statute ie thAt.1;
inhibita every orfioer or a oounty, olty or
tam fpcjmselling to or puroha~ing from suoh
oar-oration any property whatever.m
It IS OUT opinion that the oontraot and sale men-
tioned In your letter is in violation 0r Artiole 373, Penal
.
Honorable E, L. Hinson, Jr., Page 3
Code or Texas,and we answer ymr question Ir;the negative.
yurthsnkore,we oall your attention to Artlole 2340,
Vernon*s Annotated Texas Civil Ctatutaa,which provides:
nBe@re entering upon the dutierrof their
offloo, the oounty judge and eaoh oomissIoner
shall take the offioial oath, and shall also
take a written oath that he will not he direot-
ly or lndireotly interestedin any eontract
with, or olals against, the oountp ie whioh he
resides, exoept suoh warrant8a# nay'ieeue to
him as fee8 of offioe. Eaah conmissioner
ahaJ.1exeoute a bond to be approvedby the
oounty judge in the aum of three thousand dol-
lars, payable to the oouaty treamrer, oondi-
tioned for the faithful performanaeof the
duties of his oi’fIo4, that he will Parrover
to hia oounty all moneys Illegally paid to
\
him out of oounty funds, a6 voluntary payments
or otherwise,and that he will not vote or
give his oonsant to pay out oountg fund8 ex-
cept for lawful purpoam3.*
VerY truly your8
ATTCRNEYGEHE3ALOP TKXAS
By fig. +-&L
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Wm. J. Fanning
AssfstaBt
WJF;GO