Ethics Complaints Accepted Against Hecht, Brown, and Johnson Campaigns
Houston, TX- The campaigns of Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Justices Jeff Brown and Phil Johnson are the subject of sworn complains that were accepted today by the Texas Ethics Commission. The complaints were filed by longtime conservative activist and former State Republican Executive Committee member Mark McCaig.
The complaints allege that the Hecht, Brown, and Johnson campaigns each violated section 253.1611(b) of the Texas Election Code, which prohibits judicial candidates or specific-purpose committees that support oppose judicial candidates from knowingly using political contributions to make political contributions to a political committee in connection with a primary election. Hecht, Brown, and Johnson face opponents in the March 4, 2014 Republican primary.
Campaign finance reports filed earlier this month by the Hecht, Brown, and Johnson campaigns with the Texas Ethics Commission show that each campaign made a $7,000 contribution to the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) Political Action Committee. The contributions by the Justices’ campaign committees to YCT PAC were used to help underwrite the cost of an endorsement slate mailer that featured endorsements of Hecht, Brown, Johnson, and other statewide candidates in the upcoming Republican primary who made contributions to the YCT PAC to subsidize the mailer. Shortly after these contributions were discovered, McCaig publicized the illegality of such contributions online. YCT’s most recent campaign finance report shows that they refunded the contributions made by the incumbent Justices’ campaigns, but only after the illegality of the contributions was publicized. Shortly after the refunds were made, the YCT PAC received an additional $14,000 from the Empower Texans PAC, which also supports Hecht, Brown, and Johnson. Empower Texans PAC’s sister organization and their President, Michael Quinn Sullivan, are currently the subject of a probe by the Texas Ethics Commission into allegations of Texas Election Code violations.
McCaig stated, “If the campaigns of Chief Justice Hecht and Justices Brown and Johnson don’t follow the law, how can Texans expect these Judges to uphold the rule of law from the bench? Only after their campaigns got caught breaking the law did YCT try to save face and refund the contributions after their pay to play slate had been mailed.”
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