T.A.B. Tells It to the Jury

A Travis County grand jury may begin hearing testimony this week as part of an ongoing investigation into whether the Texas Association of Business violated election laws in its self-proclaimed "show of muscle" in 24 legislative races. At issue is who paid for that muscle, which T.A.B. brandished in the form of 4 million campaign mailers -- $2 million worth -- targeting fiercely competitive races, primarily in the House.

T.A.B. attorney Andy Taylor told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the lobby group is cooperating with the investigation and will tell the grand jury the funding sources for the mailers. (He did not return our calls.) Because grand juries operate in secrecy, Suzy Woodford, executive director of Common Cause Texas, an ethics watchdog organization, said she questions Taylor's motives in "telling a group that is gagged" where the campaign cash came from. "If they haven't done anything wrong," Woodford said, "why don't they tell the public where the money came from?"

Last week, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued subpoenas for T.A.B. Chief Executive Officer Bill Hammond and Information Systems Director Don Shelton, as well as Bob Thomas of Thomas Graphics (which printed the mailers). Common Cause is one of several public-policy groups that filed complaints with Earle's office against T.A.B.; the group claims that the mailers did not require a funding disclosure because they were "educational" in nature and did not encourage citizens to vote for or against a candidate.

For its campaign efforts, T.A.B. took credit for the overwhelming GOP success in Texas and the defeat of eight incumbent Democratic legislators, including former Austin Rep. Ann Kitchen. Kitchen and two other defeated candidates have filed a lawsuit alleging T.A.B.'s undisclosed corporate-money expenditures were in violation of state election laws.