March 14, 2018      5:17 PM

Federal Judge to rule before the end of the week in Empower Texans case over anti-Geren mailers

Judge David Counts tells Empower Texans’ attorneys that what it seems they want the federal court to do is “tie the hands of elected district attorneys from doing what they’re elected to do”

MIDLAND – A federal judge in West Texas said Wednesday afternoon that he will decide by the end of the week whether to block local prosecutors in Austin, Fort Worth, and here in Midland from possibly prosecuting Empower Texans over deceptive mail pieces sent to voters using the DBA “Texas Ethics Disclosure Board.”

The civil rights claim was filed here in the Permian Basin even though no district attorney here or anywhere else has threatened to prosecute Chairman Tim Dunn’s group over the mail pieces, which may have violated state law banning impersonation of a government official or entity.

“I’m being sued because I exist,” said Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf shortly after the two-hour hearing at the George H. W. Bush Federal Courthouse. None of what has been alleged to have happened occurred within Nodolf’s jurisdiction, her attorney Eric Johnston noted in court.

By Scott Braddock

Copyright March 14, 2018, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved