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October 16, 2014      12:00 PM

Coppedge: Many Texas judges and lawyers are ignorant of or ignoring the law

Veteran of Texas judicial politics argues that criminal penalties might need to be available for judges in cases of breaking campaign finance law

There are some lawyers, judges, judicial candidates and individuals in Texas that are in clear violation of the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act.  This includes some of the wealthiest personal injury trial lawyers in Texas and some judges and candidates for trial courts as well as appellate courts.  It seems that they either cannot read and understand the law or choose to ignore it.

They are violating the legal contribution limits. In some cases the amounts involved are tens of thousands of dollars.  Some individual contributors have made well over one hundred thousand dollars in prohibited contributions over the past few years to numerous judges and judicial candidates.  The law provides only civil remedies but those include a state cause of action against both the recipient and the contributor for three times the amount involved.  The law also includes a cause of action by any opposing candidates against both the recipient and the contributor of twice the amount involved plus legal fees.

Many people do not fully understand the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act. The folks violating it obviously must not.  Or they don't care – either because they don't think it will be enforced or that the potential penalties are not enough to dissuade them.

A law firm in Texas cannot write a check to a judicial candidate for more than the individual limit.

For a judicial race where the individual contribution limit is $5,000, a lar firm cannot make a $30,000 contribution. It can only make a $5,000 contribution. When added together with other contributions from anyone associated with that firm, the total cannot exceed $30,000. That is what many are either ignorant of or ignoring.

You can read the entire column from John Coppedge, MD, by clicking on the R&D Department.  

By John Coppedge, MD