July 29, 2014 5:21 PM

Home School Coalition sues Texas Ethics Commission to block dark money regulation

"Texas has no legitimate interest, much less a compelling interest, in regulating issue advocacy."

Attorneys for the Texas Home School Coalition filed a lawsuit against the Texas Ethics Commission this past week in federal court in Lubbock, arguing that it’s unconstitutional for the commission to try to regulate political spending by groups classified as 501(c)(4)’s under the tax code. That, of course, would include the political activities of Midland oilman Tim Dunn’s spokesman Michael Quinn Sullivan, the president of Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

Sullivan, as QR readers who have followed this are aware, has been found guilty of lobbying without registering by the commission but the agency has yet to address the complaint that he’s operating a political action committee without making legally required disclosures. Attorneys for Sullivan plan to appeal the ruling on the lobbying issue in court.

The Home School Coalition’s lawyers say that "while Texas may be able to condition political candidates' and political action committees' political activities on compliance with burdensome requirements, it may not so condition the exercise of First Amendment rights by organizations whose major purpose is not campaign advocacy, but who occasionally make independent expenditures on behalf of candidates.'"

By Scott Braddock