State GOP money trail muddy, possible violations of law

I can't wait to hear the justifications for this from the regular dittoheads.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2528076

April 24, 2004, 11:00PM

State GOP money trail muddy, possible violations of law
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
RESOURCES


COMBINED SPENDING POWER
Texas political parties' corporate and labor union accounts:

Year Dem Repub
1998 $445,270 $904,177

2000 $316,594 $1.6 million

2002 $562,345 $5.7 million

Source: Texas Ethics Commission






AUSTIN -- The Texas Republican Party went on a drive during the last major statewide elections to raise corporate cash like never before, collecting $2.2 million from companies such as energy firms and nursing home chains.
While raising the money was legal, it may have been spent in violation of state law, the Houston Chronicle found through a review of more than 10,000 pages of state and federal campaign finance reports.

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.

``I apologize that it wasn't more" money, Wayne Hamilton, former GOP executive director and now a special adviser to the party, told the Chronicle.

The Texas Democratic Party handled its accounting of so-called soft money from corporations and labor unions differently. The Chronicle's review of its financial documents found no readily apparent violations of state laws.

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