June 13, 2014 5:44 PM

TEC accepts complaint against Texas Right to Life for anti-Deuell radio ads

Commission will look into whether Right to Life misled voters about where money came from for those commercials

The Texas Ethics Commission has agreed to look into the way Texas Right to Life paid for radio ads that used “defamatory” language against Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, in his race against challenger Bob Hall. The complaint filed by Deuell’s Political Director Trey Bahm alleges that Right to Life misled voters about the fact that a “dark money” organization paid for the ads that helped put Hall over the top by 300 votes in the runoff election.

In a press release that quoted the group’s attorney Trey Trainor, Right to Life had said that the commission "saw through Deuell's hectoring legal tactics and dismissed the claim.” Trainor called it a disturbing trend for politicians to "use the TEC as an instrument to silence grassroots advocacy groups."

But that’s a gross misrepresentation of why the complaint was kicked back to Bahm.

In responding to the original complaint, the commission’s staff said what had been submitted did not meet certain form requirements. Specifically, it did not include the dates the alleged violations had occurred and did not sufficiently lay out the facts.

Those dates and facts were happily included by Bahm and now the complaint has been accepted, as you can see in this letter.

The issue now before the commission has to do with the legally required audio disclosures in the nearly $50,000 worth of broadcast political advertisements.

By Scott Braddock