Nov. 10 - Groups seek reform from corporations who gave in Texas election

Clean-Up Urged for Corporations That Contributed to Texans for a Republican Majority or the Texas Association of Business

Four Texas reform groups today urged the CEOs and outside boards of directors of the 54 corporations that spent corporate funds to influence Texas’ 2002 state elections to adopt policies that would prohibit such actions in the future, both in Texas and nationwide. The 54 corporations directly contributed corporate funds to Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC) or the Texas Association of Business (TAB) in 2002.

Criminal prosecutors and civil attorneys in Austin are pursuing complaints that Tom DeLay’s TRMPAC and TAB broke Texas law in 2002 by using prohibited corporate funds to influence state elections.

The groups (Texans for Public Justice, Public Citizen, Common Cause Texas and Campaigns for People) called upon the directors of these corporations to voluntarily agree to apply federal McCain-Feingold “issue-ad” restrictions (enacted in the reform law) at the state and local level. A corporation adopting this policy would refrain from financing “issue ads” during the 60-day period preceding local, state or federal general elections.

To read the entire news release, click here.

To view:
List of the 54 corporations who gave to TAB and TRMPAC, click here.

Sample letter from groups to the 54 corporations, click here.

Model policy corporations could adopt, click here.

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