October 9, 2014      5:15 PM
Conservative Senate nominees rattle their sabers at the Ethics Commission
Senator-elect Bob Hall and others say the commission has no authority to regulate dark money; the Texas Government Code begs to differ
Led by Senate Nominee Bob Hall, who narrowly defeated Sen. Bob Deuell in
a bitter primary runoff, a group of Republican nominees for the Texas
Senate on Thursday said they believe the Texas Ethics Commission
is planning to overstep its authority with a proposed rule aimed at revealing
some donors of so-called “dark money groups.”
A letter was sent to the
commission written by Hall and signed by Rep. Van Taylor, Sen. Charles
Perry, Paul Bettencourt, Konni Burton, and Don Huffines. In the letter, Hall said the “legislative process
played itself out” on a bill that would have required nonprofits organized
under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code to publicly disclose contributors who
give more than $1,000 to any dark money group that makes more than $25,000 in
political expenditures.
QR readers
will recall that Senate Bill 346 by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, was recalled by the Senate after
the upper chamber passed it without vocal opposition. But the Texas
House refused to send the legislation back to the Senate and it instead
landed on Gov. Perry’s desk, where
it had a date with his veto pen.
“No doubt, next session,
the Legislature will again debate the definition of a political committee and
their reporting requirements,” Hall wrote. “Whether it is in Committee, or on
the floor of the House or Senate, we can expect this debate to be detailed and
deliberative. Most importantly, this debate is the Legislature’s duty and our
task alone.”
By Scott Braddock
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