January 9, 2017      5:06 PM
Judge orders American Phoenix Foundation to be seized and dissolved
Bresnen is one major step closer to obtaining the foundation’s financial records; Joe Basel appeared in court and promised an appeal
On
the day before the Texas Legislature gavels into session, the man who led an
effort to secretly film members, lobbyists and others during the last session
appeared in a Travis County courtroom in a lawsuit against the American
Phoenix Foundation.
The
nonprofit’s founder, Joe Basel, said
the APF is now “defunct.”
Basel
had gone silent during the course of the lawsuit filed by veteran lobbyist Steve Bresnen over the last several
months. Basel failed to show up at hearings and refused to talk even to his own
attorney. That attorney, Ben Wetmore,
resigned from the case after telling a judge that Basel had become completely non-responsive.
Bresnen, a former general counsel to
Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, sued the
Phoenix Foundation in an effort to compel it to release its financial
information as required by Texas law for a nonprofit with no members.
By Scott Braddock
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