Tea party activist loses venue fight with state panel
Empower Texans leader fighting lobbying fine
AUSTIN — A state appeals court has ruled against a powerful conservative activist locked in a long-running legal feud with Texas’ campaign finance regulator, ordering a case that centers on a fine for breaking lobbying laws to be transferred to Travis County.
Empower Texans President Michael Quinn Sullivan, an influential figure in tea party circles, was fined by the commission in July 2014 for not registering as a lobbyist after it found “evidence of direct communications intended to influence legislative action.”
He appealed in state district court.
Shortly after the fine was levied, Sullivan claimed Denton County as his primary residence in a move that allowed the legal challenge to play out in North Texas as opposed to Travis County.
The Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday to overturn a lower court that had determined Sullivan was a resident of Denton County. The appeals court also ordered the case to be transferred to Travis County, which the court described as the “mandatory venue.”
In the roughly 15 months that the case has bounced around state courts, residency has emerged as a key issue, with the Ethics Commission accusing Sullivan of trying to evade the fine by claiming he lived in Denton. Earlier this year, a judge there dismissed the ethics case.
Sullivan’s lawyers, who argue that his actions never amounted to lobbying, said he had long-standing roots in North Texas before claiming Denton as his residence, including family ties and an Empower Texans office.
The three-judge panel at the appeals court rejected that, along with an affidavit Sullivan signed attesting to Denton residency, saying the argument “is nothing more than a legal conclusion unless it is supported by facts that establish such residence.”
The panel ruled to move the case back to Denton after determining that Sullivan failed to prove he was a Denton resident before he was fined by the state.
Eric Nichols, the commission’s lawyer, said the appeal court’s decision was “indisputably correct.”
“The court’s decision upholds the basic rule that a person in Texas cannot manufacture venue in a county after he or she has a claim to pursue in court,” Nichol said. “The Commission looks forward to pursuing this matter in a court of proper venue in Travis County.”
A spokeswoman for Empower Texans said the group is talking to its lawyers about whether to appeal the ruling.
“No matter what motions they file, and no matter what intermediate rulings are issued, the rogue Texas Ethics Commission will ultimately have to face a court and have that court examine the constitutionality of their actions,” the group said in a written statement. “We are absolutely confident that the courts of this state will uphold the First Amendment.”