EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and his organization Powered by the People, alleging unlawful fundraising activity, the Attorney General’s Office announced Friday, Aug. 8 in a news release posted on the office’s website.
Paxton calls O’Rourke’s organization “radical” and alleges that is potentially operating a “misleading financial influence scheme to fund runaway Democrats who fled Texas to break quorum” amid the ongoing furor over redistricting.
Paxton also said that Democratic lawmakes have accepted “Beto Bribes” to finance fleeing from the state.
O’Rourke represented El Paso in Congress from 2013-19. He also served on the El Paso City Council before unsuccessfully running for U.S. senator, governor and president.
“Democrat runaways are likely accepting Beto Bribes to underwrite their jet-setting sideshow in far-flung places and misleadingly raising political funds to pay for personal expenses,” Paxton said. “This out-of-state, cowardly cabal is abandoning their constitutional duties. I will not allow failed political has-beens to buy off Texas elected officials. I’ll see you in court, Beto.”
O’Rourke and Powered by People intentionally misled donors to fund runaway Democrats’ personal expenses, despite advertising it as political fundraising, Paxton’s office said.
“By knowingly blurring the distinction, O’Rourke and Powered by People sought to take advantage of uninformed donors by directing them to explicitly political fundraising platforms, all while intending to use the funds for purposes they understood to be constituted as personal expenditures. Texas law prohibits organizations from engaging in false, misleading, and deceptive acts, such as the fundraising scheme operated by O’Rourke and Powered by People,” the news release said.
Paxton has requested a temporary restraining order and an injunction preventing O’Rourke and Powered by People from continuing to raise or distribute money for the purpose of funding the “runaway Democrat House members,” the Attorney General’s Office said.
O’Rourke said on Facebook he and his organization are suing Paxton in state court and are “taking the fight directly to him.”
We have reached out for a further statement.
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