Dark Money: By a unanimous vote, the Texas Ethics Commission dismissed complaints against Texans for Fiscal Responsibility/Empower Texans’ Michael Quinn Sullivan. The earliest complaints were filed in 2012 by Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) and former Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Keller), and they led to the initial investigation into whether the group coordinated with donors, who they weren’t required to disclose, to influence primary elections. The group also has a PAC, which discloses its donors and expenditures.
The commission issued subpoenas in 2014. As several lawsuits slogged their way through the judicial process, the AG’s office said that Empower Texans made a judicial admission of raising less than the $500 threshold that legally requires establishing a PAC. The commission’s director of enforcement recommended the case be dropped.
.@TX_Ethics dismisses complaints against @EmpowerTexans. We won. Now we hold them accountable! #txspeechfight #txlege
— Michael Q Sullivan (@MQSullivan) October 13, 2016
Sullivan was quoted by the Texas Tribune as saying the commission is “going to find out what real punishment looks like.”
CD27: The Corpus Christi Caller-Times endorsed challenger Roy Barrera.
RRC: Former RRC Chair David Porter endorsed former Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center).
SC: The San Antonio Express-News endorsed incumbent Justices Paul Green (SC5), Eva Guzman (SC9) and Debra Lehrmann (SC3).
HD29: Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed Rep. Ed Thompson (R-Portland).
HD107: The Kenneth Sheets campaign released a new ad, “Proud,” in which Rep. Sheets discusses a few bills of which he has been most proud.
HD118: The Texas Parent PAC endorsed challenger Tomas Uresti.
HD120 open: The San Antonio Express-News endorsed Barbara Gervin-Hawkins.
HD133: The Houston Chronicle endorsed challenger Jesse Ybanez.
HD137: The Houston Chronicle endorsed Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston).
Travis Co.: County Comm. Gerald Daugherty’s campaign has one of the more clever ads of this cycle so far.
Daugherty faces mediator and Democratic Party activist David Holmes.