Texas Ethics Commission dismisses complaint against state GOP chair, lawmaker says

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The Texas Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint against the state Republican Party Chair alleging that he illegally threatened and intimidated lawmakers over their support for a House speaker candidate, according to the state House Member who filed the complaint.

Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday that the commission dismissed the complaint against Texas GOP Chair Abraham George because they did not believe they had the jurisdiction to give an opinion.

The complaint highlights an intense and ongoing civil war between the Texas GOP’s far-right wing and its more establishment, but still deeply conservative, flank. That acrimony exploded late last year after a majority of House Republicans voted to support Mansfield Republican Rep. David Cook’s bid for House speaker. The same day, Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, announced that he had enough bipartisan support in the 150-member chamber to win a majority. He was elected speaker last week.

Burrows’ defiance immediately prompted a pressure campaign from the Texas GOP. In the lead-up to the official House vote last week, the party and George vowed to send negative mailers about Burrows supporters into their districts and to censure any Republican who does not vote for Cook — a move that, under recently adopted party rules, would bar those lawmakers from appearing on a primary ballot for two years.

In the complaint, Harris alleged that George violated ethics rules by threatening to spend money on mail pieces in Harris’s district attacking him if he didn’t cast his vote for Cook. Harris argued that such a mailer amounted to an “economic benefit” for a primary candidate against Harris and thus constituted a bribe.

“I think they chose the politically expedient way out,” Harris said of the commission’s decision. The Texas GOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The commission declined to comment. Ethics complaints that are dismissed are confidential under state law. Typically, when the commission receives an ethics complaint, it has five days to determine whether the alleged violation comes under its jurisdiction. When the commission declares it does not have jurisdiction, the complainant can request a review by the commission. Harris said he hasn’t decided yet if he wants to request a review.

A mandatory review of the ethics boards by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, which evaluates agencies and issues recommendations, is already underway.

Some Republicans have sought to use the review period as an opportunity to weaken the ethics commission’s oversight powers. That includes political operatives and groups funded by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, two West Texas oil billionaires who have spent tens of millions of dollars pushing Texas to the far right. Wilks and Dunn are longtime foes of the Ethics Commission; one of their chief operatives has been engaged in an unsuccessful, 10-year legal attempt to strip the agency of its regulatory powers.

In the days after Harris’ allegations were made public, groups and figures funded by the billionaires again mobilized against the ethics commission. The complaint, they argued, proved that the commission had become a political “weapon,” wielded by powerful people to silence everyday citizens by conducting intense and time-consuming investigations into even the most baseless allegations or mundane violations.