TRAVIS COUNTY (WBAP/KLIF News) – The Texas Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan.
The suit, which was filed Thursday in Travis County, alleges state campaign finance law violations and is seeking the release of a controversial recording made secretly during a meeting between Bonnen and Sullivan in June.
Sullivan said he recorded the meeting in which Bonnen allegedly offered to give his Empower Texans group media credentials if it would attack several Republican lawmakers during the upcoming primaries.
Bonnen, who had initially denied the allegations, has since apologized for the “embarrassing and hurtful” things he said during the conversation.
Sullivan had threatened to release the tape in an act of transparency.
Several Republicans have urged him not to saying it could damage the party ahead of the 2020 election.
After the lawsuit was filed, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa issued a statement that read in part:
“Texans deserve to know what happens in their government on their dime, and that elected officials are getting their jobs done, and not abusing power.That is why today, the Texas Democratic Party and State Representative Ana-Maria Ramos took legal action against dark-money operative Michael Quinn Sullivan in an effort to hold him and his co-conspirator Speaker Dennis Bonnen responsible for possible campaign finance violations of the Texas Election Code.”
Click here to read the petition.
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