March 3, 2014 9:16 AM

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GETS THE EMPOWER TEXANS CASE VERY WRONG

All of the GOP candidates for AG say they would defend the Ethics Commission

Some Texas Capitol observers were surprised over the weekend to see the Wall Street Journal editorial board wade into the controversy over accused serial Texas ethics law scofflaws Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans. As you know, Sullivan and his group have been locked in battle with the Texas Ethics Commission for two main reasons. One is the failure of Sullivan to register as a lobbyist despite meeting every legal threshold long established by Texas law and the other has to do with Empower Texans acting as a PAC without making legally required disclosures.

A rare formal hearing of the commission on those sworn complaints is set for April but Sullivan's attorneys have now filed a federal lawsuit against the commission claiming this is a fight over free speech and due process.

The Wall Street Journal apparently took Sullivan’s lawsuit pleadings at face value with no other vetting – almost comically ignoring the two years of events prior to the formal hearing. Instead, they camouflaged a press release as an editorial while remaining oblivious to Texas law.

By Harvey Kronberg and Scott Braddock