HOUSTON — Family graduations, campaign fundraisers and a trip that ended in a lawmaker “ghost voting” in a historic impeachment are some of the questionable flights KHOU 11 Investigates found after digging through hundreds of Texas Department of Transportation travel logs and social media posts.
TxDOT owns four executive-style jets that are supposed to be used only for official state business, but records reveal some lawmakers may have used the perk for their own personal or political gain.
“A public official should serve the public interest,” University of Houston professor Dan Engster said. “The main concern is that you would want just greater transparency to the public.”
Take Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. He hopped on a TxDOT private jet in September 2022 and listed the purpose of the flight as “Conference-Tribune” in Austin, but that wasn’t the full story.
Phelan spoke at the Tribune Festival in Austin but he didn't return home to Beaumont when the flight left Austin. Instead, he flew across the state to Lubbock, where he attended a football game -- his alma mater UT took on Texas Tech.
“Beautiful day in Lubbock for #WreckEm vs #HookEm,” Phelan wrote on a Facebook post with gameday photos. Other posts showed him wearing a UT visor and on the field alongside Red Raiders fans.
Phelan’s office said he flew to Lubbock to meet with Tech officials and it was paid for by university donors, but records also show Phelan held a campaign fundraiser. The day he landed in Lubbock, he accepted a $2,500 in-kind donation for “food and beverage for campaign event” and the day after the game there was an $880 charge for a hotel in Lubbock for “staff lodging for political fundraiser.” In total, he raised at least $37,522 for his campaign.
State law outlines when flights can be used and reads, “the department may not provide aircraft transportation” if the passenger, “has attended an event at which money is raised for private or political purposes.”
It seems a pretty straightforward prohibition,” Engster said. “The regulation as I read it, suggests that officials should avoid fundraising when they’re using public(ly-funded) airplanes.”
Engster is director of the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership at the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs.
“The ethical thing to do is to use public aircraft for public purposes and to follow these regulations,” he said.
Phelan’s office defended the trip, writing, “Phelan is strongly committed to the responsible use of state resources, and always makes every good faith effort to remain in compliance with state law and ethics requirements.”
‘Doesn’t pass the sniff test’
It wasn’t only political, KHOU 11 Investigates found other flights that were more family affairs than official state business.
“It was stunning to see this level of the blurring of the lines between public and private enterprise,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, KHOU 11 political analyst and UH professor.
Last year, State Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, flew to Longview and listed the state purpose as, “meeting.”
It was actually a family member’s high school graduation. Dean posted a picture and wrote the same night, “So grateful to get home for my grandson.”
Dean’s chief of staff defended the trip by saying the office coordinated with TxDOT to ensure compliance with state regulations.
“To guarantee that taxpayers did not bear the travel costs, Representative Dean reimbursed the state for the cost,” said Ashley Troy, the lawmaker’s chief of staff.
Records show he paid for the trip with campaign funds, which may also be against state law, as campaign funds cannot be used for personal use.
“I don’t think the people donating to his campaign wanted those dollars to be used for exclusively private purposes, and that’s what this looks like,” Rottinghaus said.
Dean’s office doubled down, saying, “many constituents and local officials” were at the graduation.
“This does not pass the sniff test,” Rottinghaus said. “There are always going to be other constituents around. And if that was the full purpose of the visit, then that’s one thing, but the fact that he had family that was there, and that he had family members graduating in that class, there’s definitely a crossing of that line.”
After the graduation, the flight log shows Dean rushed back to Austin the same night. He and his colleagues were needed on the House floor the next day, for a historic event, the impeachment proceedings of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
KHOU 11 Investigates found another lawmaker who flew out of town on a state jet didn’t make it back.
Ghost voting
State Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, said he was going on “state business” when he flew from Austin to Mount Pleasant on May 27, 2023. The flight was in the air from 12:32 p.m. to 1:14 p.m. Oddly enough, the house journal also shows him present on the House floor at 1:03 p.m. during roll call for that day.
Hefner couldn’t be in two places at once, but his office never returned repeated calls and emails for an explanation. When KHOU 11 Investigates later visited the lawmaker’s capital office with cameras rolling, Hefner’s Chief of Staff said they had a “no recording policy.”
Turns out, that supposed “state business” flight landed in time for Hefner’s daughter’s graduation, according to the local home-school co-op calendar and social media posts. The graduation began at 2 p.m. and social media photos show Hefner posing with and hugging his daughter in her cap and gown.
Back in Austin, lawmakers listened to impeachment arguments.
“This was a historic impeachment vote. This is a scandal that has rocked the entire state,” Rottinghaus said. “Their job is to be in Austin. They're evaluating evidence. They're going to these hearings, they're talking with colleagues. They have to be there to do it. It is phenomenally important.”
Perhaps that’s why Hefner tried to return to the Capital less than two hours after he landed. He’s a registered pilot, and records show Hefner’s single-engine plane took off from Mount Pleasant just after 3 p.m. and didn’t land in Austin until 4:45 p.m., the same time as the impeachment vote.
“Given these records, there’s simply just no way he could have been there,” Rottinghaus said.
Even more odd, the House Journal shows Hefner voted. A video of the vote showed Hefner’s desk empty, but his colleague reached over, punched the button and Hefner’s light illuminated in favor of impeachment.
Rottinghaus said this practice is called ghost voting, and is common, but usually for when lawmakers need to step out briefly to take a call or use the restroom. State law says presence in the House is required to vote.
“A member must be on the floor of the house or in an adjacent room or hallway on the same level as the house floor, in order to vote,” state law reads.
“The rules are clear, that the person, the member, has to be in the building,” Rottinghaus said, adding that ghost voting would be unacceptable for an impeachment vote. “This definitely is the biggest vote of that session, if not the decade, and to miss it is abdication of your duties. Period.”
Records show taxpayers paid for Hefner’s state-operated flight from Austin to Mount Pleasant. His office did not provide a statement, but below are extended statements from other lawmakers with questionable flights:
Phelan’s office provided the following statement:
“Speaker Phelan was invited by officials at Texas Tech University to visit the campus and discuss the legislative priorities of the University with the chancellor, president and other officials. Speaker Phelan and fellow lawmakers were honored to be recognized on the football field during the Texas vs. Tech football game that weekend. This flight was not at taxpayer expense. Speaker Phelan is strongly committed to the responsible use of state resources, and always makes every good faith effort to remain in compliance with state law and ethics requirements.”
The Office of State Representative Jay Dean
“At the end of the last Legislative Session, Representative Dean committed to attending a high school graduation back home in East Texas on Friday evening, May 26, which included many constituents, local officials, and also included his oldest grandchild. Due to the House schedule on Friday and Saturday, other travel arrangements were not feasible. Representative Dean’s office coordinated with TXDOT to ensure compliance with State regulations. To guarantee that taxpayers did not bear the travel costs, Representative Dean reimbursed the State for the cost. In nearly a decade as a state elected official, this is the only time Representative Dean has utilized this service. He extends his gratitude to TXDOT for helping him honor his commitments to his constituents in both East Texas and Austin. Representative Dean always encourages his constituents to contact him directly with any concerns.”