Ethics agency files suit in dark money case

It seeks to force Empower Texans to obey subpoenas.

The Texas Ethics Commission is going to court to try to compel Empower Texans President Michael Quinn Sullivan to comply with subpoenas that are part of a pending dark money investigation.

The commission filed a lawsuit Monday asking a Travis County judge to enforce subpoenas against Sullivan, an antitax and limited government activist who has fought for more than a year and a half in various courts to have the state agency’s document demand quashed.

It marks the first time the state’s campaign finance regulator has filed with a court to compel response to a subpoena.

Commission officials launched a probe into Sullivan and his group based on sworn complaints in 2012 that allege his Empower Texans group failed to disclose corporate campaign expenditures.

Empower Texans is a 501(c)4 tax-exempt corporation that is allowed to make electioneering expenditures without having to disclose its donors but is required to report political expenditures to the commission.

The fight over subpoenas has largely consumed the investigation since they were issued in February 2014 — and the commission claims it can’t move forward without the documents and now needs a judge to step in since it lacks the power to enforce its own subpoenas.

According to the lawsuit, Sullivan and Empower Texans have not only refused to comply with the subpoenas but have used “vague, unsubstantiated, and inapplicable claims” to essentially stonewall the commission’s investigation.

“Good cause exists for the issuance of the subpoenas because they were issued pursuant to TEC’s statutory mandate to investigate sworn complaints,” Assistant Attorney General Melissa Holman wrote on behalf of the commission.

The subpoenas, which allow for the redaction of names, seek the release of a wide range of documents from Sullivan and Empower Texans, including communications with donors, lawmakers and members of the state’s executive branch.

Sullivan has turned over roughly 76 pages of documents as part of the process, but commission officials maintain that hundreds of pages of documents have yet to be disclosed.

That the commission filed a lawsuit to enforce the subpoenas is not a complete surprise.

The eight-member panel signaled it planned to do just that when it voted unanimously in June to approve asking a court to get involved in the case. However, the process has languished ever since without any public explanation.

At a hearing Monday, commission Chairman Paul Hobby, under fire from a torrent of questions posed by Empower Texans lawyer Joe Nixon, confirmed the lawsuit had been finally been filed.

“Can you tell me why you waited more than four months?” Nixon asked.

“I direct my counsel,” Hobby responded. “I do not control their schedules.”