Texas Association of Business: Any of these emails/fax's sent to Brownwood ?
TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS
Business group solicits legal aid
State association's board member claims organization thriving despite indictments.
By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Facing criminal charges, civil litigation and as much as $7 million in damages and fines, the Texas Association of Business is urging its members to renew their memberships and to donate to an expensive and lengthy legal defense.
The plea for help was sent out by e-mail and fax shortly after a Travis County grand jury on Thursday indicted the organization on 128 felony counts of violating Texas election laws. It comes amid speculation that the legal war might splinter the state's largest business lobbying group.
Ron Luke, a health care consultant who is a member of the association's executive committee, said Friday that it is thriving and that the job of its president, Bill Hammond, is secure. He said the letter was just a call for money for the "extraordinary expense" of the association defending itself.
"I'm sure people will chip in and be sure we have the resources to defend ourselves," Luke said.
It was Hammond, a former Republican state representative from Dallas, who turned the association into a political player during the 2002 elections by soliciting and spending $1.7 million, mostly from insurance companies, to send 4 million mailers to voters in 24 pivotal legislative districts. Hammond boasted after the election that the association used its "unprecedented show of muscle" to help elect Republicans who would oppose new taxes and support limiting lawsuits against businesses.
State law bars spending corporate money on campaign activities, but TAB officials contend that the mailers were issue ads educating voters about issues without advocating the election or defeat of any candidates.
The ads, however, either touted the records of TAB-backed candidates or criticized the Democrats it opposed. TAB's legal defense is centered on the argument that the mailers never used so-called magic words, such as "support" or "oppose."
TAB already has spent three years fighting lawsuits filed by Democratic candidates who lost in 2002 and fending off prosecutors trying to investigate the organization and discover the identities of its 30 corporate donors to the mailing effort.
Thursday's indictments pushed TABinto a new era.
"We are writing to you on a matter of extreme urgency and importance," the solicitation letter to TAB members began.
TAB officials denied breaking election laws, saying everything they did was reviewed by lawyers before it was mailed.
Although Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has described secret corporate money in Texas elections as a threat to democracy, TAB's letter said the association is fighting for the free speech rights of all Texans.
"This is the heart and sole (sic) of this case: will TAB and other groups and organizations be able to communicate with the public or will the only source of information be left to the news media?"
TAB officials said Earle's prosecution will silence critics of public officials.
"We face a well-funded opponent who has an unlimited supply of money — your hard earned tax dollars," the letter continued. "So, please consider a contribution today."
Under state law, TAB would face a maximum of almost $2.6 million in fines if convicted on all 128 felony counts. Damages under the lawsuits could amount to $3.4 million.
The association has 2,500 employer-members and 200 member chambers of commerce with an annual operating budget of $2.3 million, Luke said.
"Our membership has been growing," the TAB board member said. "And we've met our budget the last five years."
Luke said there is no discord within the organization over the indictments. He said any disagreements over the association's legislative battles over the future of state taxation are to be expected when employer-members have different economic interests.
As for as he is concerned, Luke said Hammond's job is not at stake: "He has clearly made the association a force in state politics and been an effective voice for business."
Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct political action committee, was also indicted this week on two counts of illegally accepting corporate money.
lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617
source: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/10tab.html
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EDITORIAL
Does Earle have a grand plan in illegal contributions case?
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Maybe Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and the grand jury investigating allegedly illegal donations in the 2002 state political campaigns have a good reason for indicting organizations and not individuals.
Maybe there is a grand strategy here. Several people involved with a $100,000 contribution from a nursing home association during the 2002 campaign have been indicted by another grand jury. One person who hasn't been indicted is Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, who accepted the check.
Maybe there's a plan to offer immunity for critical testimony, or more indictments to come later. But time is running out, and on the face of it, the felony indictments returned last week against the Texas Association of Business and the now non-existent Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee are disappointing.
After all, the decisions to solicit secret corporate money to fund political campaigns in Texas and the efforts to obtain it were made by individuals. All involved in those decisions knew state law prohibits spending corporate money on political campaigns, but they devised a strategy to try to skirt that law.
TAB President Bill Hammond, board member Mike Toomey, John Colyandro with Texans for a Republican Majority and others were using secret corporate contributions to run a political campaign. Earle was bold enough to investigate two powerful political organizations, but indicting them — and not the people behind them — is puzzling.
A reckoning might still come. Civil suits against TAB for its 2002 campaign shenanigans are going forward, and the financial liability for that arrogant operation could be substantial.
As complicated as the investigations and civil suits have been, they hang on a simple question: DID the TAB's campaign violate a state ban on corporate spending for politicking for or against candidates?
The biggest fiction in this three-year-long ordeal has been TAB's assertion that it was only informing voters, not supporting candidates. That's the group's only defense, of course, for raising and spending corporate money in secret, but it doesn't match the facts.
TAB spent $1.7 million in secret corporate money to defeat mostly Democrats and elect Republicans to the state Legislature.
Its 4 million mailings listed candidates by name and attacked them in print. It was endorsing some candidates and attacking others, and no amount of protestations to the contrary changes that fact
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/11tab_edit.html
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