May 29, 2014 5:49 PM

Ethics Commission sets new date for formal hearing into Empower Texans

“Why wouldn’t he (Sullivan) answer questions if he's not afraid?"

The Texas Ethics Commission on Thursday set a new date for a formal hearing into whether Michael Quinn Sullivan, who serves as a spokesman for Midland oilman Tim Dunn and is the president of Empower Texans, is acting as an unregistered lobbyist at the Capitol. The commission is also looking into whether Sullivan operates a political action committee without making legally required disclosures but no date has been set for that portion of the case.

The Professional Advocacy Association of Texas, the lobby group for lobbyists, had asked the commission to split the case in two and deal with the lobby registration part of it on a fast track. The group feared registrations may be discouraged while the case is in limbo.

After attorneys for Sullivan had argued in favor of quashing subpoenas issued by the commission, the body instead voted to issue a new order that includes a narrowed request for documents. Those documents are to be produced by June 13. They also set June 25 as the date for the formal hearing on the lobbying case. Such a hearing held by the commission is rare because, by state law, the vast majority of sworn ethics complaints are dealt with privately as a way to protect the accused.

QR readers may remember that a formal hearing had been scheduled for April but that was delayed when Sullivan filed a federal lawsuit alleging his due process and free speech rights were being violated. That suit was dismissed – without prejudice – by Judge Sam Sparks, who expressed concerns that subpoenas issued by the commission were overly broad to the point of being “absurd.” Sparks also said, however, that the state does have the right to decide who is a lobbyist and who isn’t.

"We have the authority to conduct a formal hearing," Chairman Jim Clancy said Thursday in response to Sullivan’s attorney Joe Nixon when he asked what law grants the commission the authority to move ahead in the manner they’ve chosen. "It's the same authority that allows us to conduct a formal hearing," Clancy said, pointing to the Texas Administrative Procedure Act.

Today’s order followed an extended hearing on Wednesday in which commissioners were probably about as amused and agitated by Nixon as we’ve seen them throughout the entire process that began two years ago.

By Scott Braddock