VIA Metropolitan Transit violated state election laws last year by using taxpayer-funded materials to promote passage of a sales tax for light rail, according to a recent ruling from the Texas Ethics Commission.

By including endorsements from community organizations in a PowerPoint presentation given to various groups around the city, VIA went from providing facts to advocating approval, said Karen Lundquist, who oversees the legal division for the commission.

Cited as an example was an endorsement from Tatiana WaIker; president of Bexar Audubon Society. She had said, "We support it 100 percent."

That goes too far, Lundquist said. That’s what at least six of the eight ethics commissioners decided; a breakdown of the vote wasn’t given.

"That was seen, I think, by the commission as crossing the line," Lundquist said. "It is a fine line, sometimes."

VIA spokeswoman Priscilla Ingle said the agency was simply communicating information to the public.

"It was a factual statement," she said of the Audubon quote.

The ethics complaint was filed against VIA General Manager John Milam in Apri1 2000, a month before 70 percent of voters derailed the proposed quarter-cent sales tax to fund a 54-mile light-rail system.

Milam last week agreed to sign a statement in which he doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges the Ethics Commissions findings. Milam, who earns $130,000 a year, was pay a $300 fine. He couldn't be reached Friday for comment.

The commission also ruled that evidence did not support four other charges, which concerned cinema and newspaper advertisements, brochures and art contest fliers. Statements may have been intended to make light rail appealing, but they didn't advocate passage, says the resolution.

That’s troublesome for Jeff Judson, president of the San Antonio-based Texas Public Policy Foundation, who filed the complaint.

Judson said his main contention was that a VIA poll included questions to determine what messages would persuade voters most. Those messages then were used in information materials about the election, he said.

"That’s frustrating," he said. "Our only appeal is going to the Legislature to close that loophole."

Otherwise, Judson said, the commission’s finding that at least one violation occurred is still a victory for taxpayers and sends an important message.