Rep. Dukes sued over credit card bills

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Texas state Rep. Dawnna Dukes , an Austin Democrat, is being sued by creditors for allegedly failing to pay some old credit card bills - a financial situation Dukes says is fallout from the time and energy she has spent on the state's powerful House Appropriations committee.

According to lawsuits filed in Travis County Court, Dukes owes $18,500.47 on a credit card account opened though Bank One in 1997. The suit said she stopped making payments on the account on March 10, 2006.

She’s also being sued for an outstanding balance charged on another credit card issued through Chase Bank. The lawsuit, filed in March of this year, said Dukes' last payment on the account was on March 21, 2006, leaving an unpaid balance of $13,961.52 .

Dukes said Friday that the actual balances on those two cards - which are related to her consulting business - is closer to $5,000 each - with the remainder racked up in fees and interests - and that she and her attorney have been working with the companies since last year on a settlement to pay off the balances and fees.

She said her personal finances took a hit years ago when her business went downhill, partly due to all the time she spent on the committee - the most time-consuming assignment in the Legislature. Her assignment to the committee also caused her to decline taking on new clients out of concern that issues affecting them would come up in the budgeting process - thereby creating a conflict of interest. That also led to her business taking a hit, she said.

Her job as a state rep only pays $600 a month - the standard low salary for Texas' citizen Legislature.

Dukes, a state representative whose district includes a large part of Travis County , has sat on the House Appropriations Committee , which oversees state spending, since 2003. In that year, the committee was dealing with a $10 billion budget shortfall that consumed legislators' time. That summer, the Legislature met for three months - usually a time for lawmakers to go home and take care of business - to deal with redistricting issues.

She is the vice chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services , which controls a $16 billion budget.

Dukes is also a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Stimulus, which oversees how federal stimulus funds are spent in Texas.

And right around the time she was beginning to recover from that, she said, the recession hit her again.

"The economy has taken a hit, and I have personally taken one with it," she said.

Dukes' Personal Financial Statement filed in February 2010 shows the lawmaker owns stock in Ebay and RedHat and has an investment of an undisclosed amount in Duncanville TEX ISD, Municipal Bonds.

Dukes lists her debts as $25,000 or more, to Bank of America and to ABC Bank, and $10,000-$24,999 to Texas Land Finance Company II in Dallas.

Her filing shows all three debts relate to her business, DM Dukes & Associates. According to the Texas Comptroller's website , DM Dukes & Associates is considered "not in good standing as it has not satisfied all franchise tax requirements."