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July 21, 2014      5:12 PM

HK: Ethics Commission ruling may create possible criminal liabilities for MQ Sullivan

TEC alleges losing or destroying evidence plus lobbyist Sullivan refused to answer questions under a lawful subpoena.

We and others will be exploring these issues in more depth in the coming days, but the shocker in the today’s Texas Ethics Commission Ruling was the quite explicit declaration that Michael Quinn Sullivan and his associates either lost or destroyed substantial amounts of evidence sought for the investigation.  The exact quote referenced in our earlier story by Scott Braddock was that Commissioners were “left with the inescapable conclusion that Mr. Sullivan and Empower Texans have destroyed or lost thousands of emails sent to members of the Legislature during 2010 and 2011.”

In addition, Sullivan refused to answer questions under a lawful subpoena.  That would be his right if he invoked his Fifth Amendment protections.  He did not.  Instead, he refused to answer citing First Amendment which is a questionable legal theory at best.

Sullivan has multiple legal channels available to appeal and his attorneys of course said they will do so.  Nevertheless, along the way, Sullivan may have exposed himself to possible criminal liability.

By Harvey Kronberg