Blind to blind trusts (UPDATED)

Joe Holley of ChronBlog files a *ahem* curious account of Bill White's 'ethics reforms' the candidate proposed as a planned attack on Rick Perry....

White said he would require senior staff in the governor's office to file yearly personal financial statements with the Texas Ethics Commission, limit contributions from bidders on state contracts, and require the governor to disclose debts and gifts every six months, as well as information about all the governor's assets.

That bolded part is mine, and reads like an alternative writing of this as reported by the Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater:

Finally, White outlined measures to increase financial disclosure from both the governor and his senior staff. He said he would disclose information about all assets, a contrast to Perry who uses a so-called "blind" trust to hide his assets and conflicts of interest.

Based on the press release (quoted above) it's pretty clear that the staffers of the Bill White campaign how no idea of the workings, purpose or methods of a blind trust. Interesting that ChronBlog editors felt it useful not to include that bit of detail is it not?



UPDATE: OK, so based on this Chron Texas Politics blog post by Peggy Fikac it appears that Bill White doesn't understand what a blind trust is or how it works.

"People know a lot less about Rick Perry's income, assets and debts than they do mine. That's a fact. As governor, I would not hide assets in a blind trust," White said after speaking to the broadcasters group.

"Rick Perry knew the assets he put in the blind trust," White said, including a partnership with the late Ric Williamson, whom Perry named Texas Transportation Commission. Together they pushed the now-withered Trans Texas Corridor.

That lack of knowledge of financial workings doesn't exactly inspire confidence in a candidate whose touting his "business experience" does it? Not to mention the "Bill White: Smartest guy in the Room" meme that news outlets such as the Texas Tribune and ChronBlog has been pushing.


NOTE: A friend of mine made the suggestion that Bill White knows full well how a blind trust works. What he's thinking is that you, the Texas voter, are too stupid to know that. That could be the most likely scenario.