With complaints against the Texas Association of Business gathering steam six weeks after the election, Travis County prosecutors are considering a criminal investigation into the group’s financing of political ads. The T.A.B. spent $2 million of money from its corporate members in 24 state legislative campaigns without disclosing the source of funding for the ads. Complaints to the prosecutors’ offices have included letters from the Texas Consumer Assn., Common Cause Texas, and Public Citizen.
In a related development on Monday, the T.A.B. countersued four legislative candidates who had filed legal claims against T.A.B. last month, alleging its undisclosed corporate-money expenditures violated state election laws, which expressly prohibit contributions from corporations. In its countersuit, T.A.B. denies wrongdoing and is seeking to recover its legal fees from the candidates — Reps. Ann Kitchen, D-Austin, and Debra Danburg, D-Houston, and Dem candidate Danny Duncan of Commerce — in the event it prevails. Another candidate, Austin’s James Sylvester, has filed a separate lawsuit. All four defeated Democrats were targeted by T.A.B. campaign mailers. Said Kitchen: “What they did is unprecedented … and if what they did is allowed to stand, there will effectively be no campaign finance laws in Texas to protect the public.”
Attorney Cris Feldman, who represents Kitchen, Danburg, and Duncan, scoffed at the T.A.B. countersuit. “It’s just a red herring to deflect illegal and secret corrosive laundering of corporate funds,” he said. Meanwhile, District Attorney Ronnie Earle says his office is still reviewing the matter. “We’re continuing to gather information,” he said, “to determine if there’s a reason to initiate a formal investigation.”
In an interview last month, T.A.B. President Bill Hammond defended his group’s actions, saying the mailers did not require a disclaimer because they were “educational” in nature and did not explicitly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. In Kitchen’s race against Republican Todd Baxter, T.A.B. produced two negative pieces on Kitchen and one favorable mailer on Baxter, touting him as a pro-business candidate.
This article appears in December 20 • 2002.
