Wendy Davis, Battleground Texas fined for late reporting of some 2014 contributions

State ethics officials this week fined Democrat Wendy Davis and Battleground Texas because more than $3 million in campaign contributions for the former Fort Worth woman’s 2014 gubernatorial bid were reported late.

The Texas Ethics Commission posted two orders showing that Battleground Texas — a Democratic group that worked with the Davis campaign four years ago — and Davis staffers agreed to pay $6,000 to resolve the issue, which comes four years after Davis lost her bid for governor to Republican Greg Abbott.

The commission stressed that neither Davis nor the democratic group admit “wrongdoing of any kind.” But each side agreed to pay a $3,000 “sanction” to avoid future violations, according to the commission.

At issue: The orders note that $3.4 million in donations should have been listed on January 2014 campaign finance reports for both Davis and Battleground Texas, which had agreed to evenly divide Democratic dollars raised between the two groups.

Those donations instead were listed on July 2014 reports.

While not completely accurate, the reports that were filed showed a “good-faith attempt by the respondent to comply with Texas disclosure laws for a somewhat complicated and novel fundraising operation not explicitly contemplated by Texas law,” the Ethics Commission stated.

The Davis campaign and Battleground Texas worked together through a group called the Texas Victory Committee, which quickly reported the donations, the commission stated. But both Battleground and the Davis campaign in turn should have promptly reported them as well, the report shows.

The delay created some confusion in 2014, making it appear some donors gave twice because their names appeared first on Victory Committee reports and then later the same year on Davis or Battleground reports.

Davis, a former Fort Worth city councilwoman who represented Fort Worth in the Texas Senate from 2009 to 2015, lost her gubernatorial bid by 20 percentage points — nearly 1 million votes.

She drew national attention for a June 25, 2013, filibuster at the Texas Capitol against new abortion restrictions. While she was successful in preventing the bill from passing that night, it soon passed in a special session.

A movie, “Let Her Speak,” is being made about the filibuster.

Following her unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, Davis moved to Austin and launched a new initiative, Deeds Not Words, to help young women make a difference in their communities.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 5:02 PM.