State GOP money trail muddy,
possible violations of law

From the Houston Chronicle:

Texas law prohibits political parties from spending corporate or labor union money on anything other than running a party primary, paying for a convention or administrative expenses. State law also requires those funds to be spent through a separate, restricted account, which can also include money from other sources.

But the state Republican Party transferred its corporate donations to a federal committee it runs and designated all general election expenses as administrative.

In one instance, the party defined $1.9 million in television advertisements as "administration" in campaign reports. Another $453,815 in direct mail was reported as "admin."

A week before the state deadline for raising or spending corporate money, the Texas Republican Party raised $929,000 from corporations in four days and transferred the money to its federal account.

Republican officials deny any violation of state law and say all the expenditures were legal under federal law. But the state ethics commission says spending on Texas races and other state political activities must comply with state law.

And

A violation of the law restricting the use of corporate money for general election campaigning by political parties is a Class A misdemeanor. Violating the law forbidding parties to raise corporate or labor union money for the separate account within 60 days of a general election or spend money from it within the same period is a third-degree felony.

This is the same issue that the District Attorney in Austin has been investigating. Tom DeLay says it's just politics, but this Chronicle investigation makes it appear to be much more than simply a partisan smear campaign.

I really hope some asshole Republican goes to jail over this.

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