Another loss in the courts for TRMPAC.
Lawyers for Texans for a Republican Majority lost another attempt this morning to show that their clients, accused of breaking Texas election laws, were just doing what the Democrats had always done.After a morning hearing, State District Judge Joe Hart dismissed the Republican organization’s request that the Texas Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee and the Texas Partnership, a political action committee once headed by Democratic Speaker Pete Laney, provide documents about inter-party transfers of money.
Texans for a Republican Majority and its treasurer, former State Rep. Bill Ceverha of Dallas, are accused in a civil lawsuit of collecting and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate dollars in the 2002 legislative elections. State law forbids corporate money from being spent on politics, but lawyers for Texans for a Republican Majority, a group created by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, are arguing that the law is vague and Democrats were doing the same thing.
Mike Lavigne, the party’s chief of staff, denies it: “We didn’t do the same thing as the TRMPAC.”
As for the Republicans’ “everybody-else-was-doing-it” defense, Lavigne quipped after the hearing, “My mother never bought that excuse.”
The significance of this is immense. Texas Criminal law is infamous for how difficult it is to acquire information about the parties. Civil cases have a multitude of methods which will require important players to divulge information that might be relevant to other inquiries. While Ronnie Earle is not usually an actual party to an ongoing civil matter evidence uncovered during such a proceeding is most likely available for use in subsequent criminal investigations. This could be an important part of exposing Republican deeds. To those on the sideline the existence of ongoing civil litigation is interesting even if only to know the heartburn it is giving to some very bad actors.
Posted by: Ombudsman on January 26, 2005 5:56 AMPaul Bettencourt and Rep. Wong are obviously NOT as knowledgeable about the present property tax system in TX as they protray themselves to be - and they certainly are NOT the answer nor are appraisal caps. Governmental bodies spending less is the answer and their ability to do that would be greatly enhanced if they did not have to comply with so many mandates; i.e. court appointed attorneys (SB 5 had a lot less to do with indigent defense than it has to do with being a "gravy train" for defense lawyers)- another example the HAVA Act.
Posted by: Mary Horn on January 26, 2005 10:41 AM