Quorum Report Daily Buzz Quorum Report Daily Buzz Login into the Quorum Report Subscribe toQuorum Report
Quorum Report Daily Buzz

November 23, 2015      6:58 PM

Empower Texans spent nearly $700,000 on legal fees in 2014

Former Rep. Joe Nixon, tort reformer, reaps huge windfall for his law firm as the main lawyer in MQ Sullivan’s legal troubles

Editor’s note: The tax form from Empower Texans is available for our subscribers at the end of this story – SB

The self-proclaimed “conservative” group operated on a day-to-day basis by Michael Quinn Sullivan and chaired by Midland oilman Tim Dunn spent nearly $700,000 on legal fees in the year 2014, according to tax documents obtained Monday by Quorum Report.

As QR readers who have followed Dunn’s political activities are aware, Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility runs several organizations – a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and a state general-purpose political action committee.

The 2014 tax form 990 for the 501(c)(3) shows that it had total revenue last year of more than $2.29 million. Of that, $672,805 was spent with the law firm of Beirne Maynard & Parsons, which employs former Rep. Joe Nixon and attorney Trey Trainor of Dripping Springs.

By Scott Braddock