March 24, 2015 11:15 PM

Former TEC Chairman says agency should stop enforcing the law while MQ Sullivan case is decided in court

“Ultimately, we cannot require compliance from tens of thousands of Texans when those with extraordinary resources can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to challenge a $10,000 fine.”

The Texas Ethics Commission should stop all efforts to enforce the laws under its purview until the courts have decided the case of Michael Quinn Sullivan, the alleged illegal lobbyist and spokesman for Midland oilman Tim Dunn.

That case is now headed to the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.

In a letter to TEC Chairman Paul Hobby, former chairman and current Commissioner Jim Clancy – an appointee of former Gov. Rick Perry – said there is a “crisis” because decisions of other state agencies "have legal meaning” but “the final decisions of the agency that regulates the political class have none."