Texas Ethics Commission ends 4-year probe into Empower Texans
The Texas Ethics Commission on Thursday dropped its 4-year-old probe of the conservative group Empower Texans, ending a protracted battle over how the state regulates so-called dark money groups that work to influence elections but don’t have to disclose who their donors are.
The 7-0 vote, with new Commissioner Steve Wolens abstaining, closed the books on two complaints filed in 2012 by state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, and then-state Rep. Lisa Truitt, R-Southlake, who said the nonprofit group should have to register as a political action committee and that its president and CEO, Michael Quinn Sullivan, should have to register as a lobbyist. Registering as a PAC would require the group to disclose its donors, whereas groups with 501(c)(4) nonprofit status, like Empower Texans, don’t have to.
After giving up last month on an effort to obtain documents from Empower Texans through subpoenas, the agency’s staff recommended that the investigation be dropped ahead of the unanimous vote.
“There is insufficient credible evidence to prove the violations occurred by the preponderance of the evidence,” Commission Chairman Chase Untermeyer said of the decision in a brief public session Thursday afternoon that followed hours of closed-door executive session.
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/texas-ethics-commission-ends-4-year-probe-into-emp/nsqgw/