I wrote a couple of days ago about the “lawfare” being waged against me. Some people have been asking me for details, so here they are.
The entire thing is baseless (read on to see why) and appears to have been engineered to give my opponent’s backers the excuse to run around claiming I’m “under criminal investigation” until after the election.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re preparing to pass out libelous flyers at the polls when early voting starts next Monday saying exactly that; they may even feature a picture of my face behind bars. Republicans should be better than this.
An investigation is just that–an investigation. A complaint was filed, and the authorities are looking into it to see whether there’s anything to it (spoiler alert: they’ve already looked into it. Read on). Anyone at all can file a complaint, and stuff like this appears to be so common that the Texas Ethics Commission issued a resolution unanimously condemning such misleading language in elections.
I think it’s important to note, for those who didn’t see my original piece, the Collin County Republican Party is in a messy situation. Almost 50 Precinct Chairs have resigned (there are only 252 precincts), and at the last Executive Committee Meeting, there was an actual physical altercation. Things are bad. This is the setting in which this is being done. This is also why I’m running–to restore order and heal the party.
But we have this runoff election ahead of us first. Early voting is May 20-24 (yes, in just a few days), and Election Day is May 28th. In advance of this, my opponent’s backers have waged “lawfare” against me. I’ve said it’s baseless, and I’ll show you exactly why, here, step by step. You don’t need to be a licensed attorney to understand any of this. You just have to have some basic Google skills and a pulse.
Here are the details:
A baseless complaint was filed with the Texas Secretary of State
The Secretary of State complaint form, Section III “Nature of Alleged Violation,” specifically asks for a “reference to the section of the Code alleged to have been violated.”
They wrote the following (I’ve even gone a step further and linked the actual statute so you can read what it says and see for yourself that none of this applies in this situation):
- Section 141.101 of the Texas Election Code, which prohibits coercion against candidacy
- Section 36.02 of the Texas Penal Code, which addresses bribery and corrupt influence in public administration.
- Texas Constitution Article 16, General Provisions, Section 1 Official Oath of Office b) Oath of Affirmation
This seems an awful lot like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. We’ll review below why none of them are applicable. Moreover, the Secretary of State isn’t the proper venue for such complaints. This should have been filed with the Collin County District Attorney. The Secretary of State’s forms page states clearly that they don’t handle campaign-related complaints.
Below is a photo of what they cited:
The Secretary of State Refers it to the Attorney General’s Office to investigate
These aren’t things the Secretary of State can address, so per the Secretary of State’s Election Complaint Form, they refer criminal complaints like this to the Office of the Attorney General to investigate. The referral letter is below.
Remember, whomever submitted the complaint already identified the laws they were alleging were broken. The Secretary of State’s letter restates what was noted on the complaint form.
Well, I’ve already been investigated.
Sergeant Quinn with the Attorney General’s office already questioned me and told me very directly, “There’s nothing here. There’s no criminal violation. I’m going to recommend this be closed.”
However, the report still has to go up through his superior, then for attorney review, and then over to the Collin County District Attorney’s office, which is where things like this are supposed to go from the start. But if it had been, it likely would have all been over some time ago. But now, they can keep claiming I’m “under criminal investigation.”
The law is clear.
First, if you couldn’t make it out in the complaint form, I’ll tell you what they’re complaining about. In the March 5th Primary Election, I needed 50 percent of the vote +1 to win outright, but in a three-way race, I fell just shy of that mark, with 49.76 percent of the vote, which means the top two candidates go to a runoff election (for which Election Day is May 28th). I received overwhelmingly more votes than my opponent (51 percent more votes), and things had already become very contentious within the party. I said in front of the GOP Executive Committee, three days after the election, that if she were to choose not to run in the runoff, I would nominate her to be First Vice-Chair of the Collin County GOP, and we could show everyone we both always meant what we said about uniting the party.
Everyone in the room recognized my gesture for what it was: a genuine effort to put all of this behind us, join together, and move forward for the best interest of the party. It was when the new Interim Chair took his Oath of Office a little later that evening that some folks identified a political opportunity.
They cooked up this entire complaint, citing statute, but never even alleged a crime! Coercion is a wild allegation, and for bribery to apply, there has to be money or something of monetary value involved. That’s clear in the statutory reference of “pecuniary.” There isn’t. The Chair can only nominate someone for First Vice-Chair, not appoint, and it’s an unpaid role anyway, as is County Chair.
Again, I’ve linked the actual statute above so you can read it and compare it against their own words in the copy of the complaint I included above. As always, I try to make it easy for you to see for yourself so you don’t have to just take my word for any of this.
The Way Forward
It’s easy to see that there was never anything to this, but the complaint was still filed, and was done in such a way as to prolong this, likely until after the election. Meanwhile, my opponent’s backers are out there claiming I’m under “criminal investigation” and even asserting that I flat out violated the law.
As I said earlier, Republicans are better than this.
Our party needs healing, and right now it’s caught in a downward spiral. After the election, this is going to be a tough job, but it’s one I believe with my whole heart needs doing. Collin County is the largest remaining red county in Texas, and it’s too important to lose.
We’ve become so mired in in-fighting that we’ve lost sight of the purpose of the Republican Party–the reason we were founded to begin with in 1854: Liberty.
We’re going to reinstall that focus in the party, and we’re going to share it far and wide, because Liberty is for everybody.
I ask you to join us and I ask for your vote in the May 28th Runoff Election. Early voting is May 20-24.
Let’s keep Liberty alive.
