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December 19, 2014      5:29 PM

Ethics Commission will look into alleged misuse of corporate funds by Empower Texans

“The public subsidizes Empower Texans by granting it a tax-exemption, while it uses those tax-exempt funds to influence elections,” Bresnen said. “That is wrong—and illegal.”

The Texas Ethics Commission said this week that there will be a preliminary hearing in February on alleged misuse of corporate funds in Texas elections by Midland oilman Tim Dunn’s group Empower Texans. Dunn, as QR readers who have followed this are aware, is the chairman of the group, which has a spokesman who was found by the Ethics Commission to be guilty of lobbying without registering.

That spokesman for Dunn, Michael Quinn Sullivan, is appealing that finding in court.

Longtime lobbyist Steve Bresnen, a former top aide to Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, filed this latest complaint against Empower Texans back in February. It centers on “the use of the publicly-subsidized non-profit’s assets to raise money for a political action committee,” which Bresnen said would be a “direct violation of the Election Code’s express prohibition against the practice.”