May 26, 2015 8:36 PM

American Phoenix Foundation faces legal action if it will not produce tax records

Longtime lobbyist Steve Bresnen confronts the head of the group, Joe Basel, with legal documents in the House Gallery

The group that claims to have done hundreds of hours of covert surveillance on Texas lawmakers will need to cough up its tax records or they'll be hauled into court, its president was told on Tuesday evening.

Steve Bresnen, a longtime lobbyist and former aide to Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, confronted American Phoenix Foundation CEO Joe Basel with a written demand that the group disclose its 990's.

In the letter presented to Basel, Bresnen reminds him that "Federal law makes the federal tax returns of The American Phoenix Foundation, Inc. a matter of public record" because of its status as a nonprofit.

By Scott Braddock