Investigation finds House Speaker ‘likely violated’ law, doesn’t recommend prosecution
Months after the Texas House was thrust into a scandal that led to Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s descent, the House committee investigating the allegations adopted a report Friday that found Bonnen “likely violated” state law. However, on other grounds, the report said the evidence did not warrant criminal prosecution of Bonnen or Rep. Dustin Burrows.
After meeting behind closed doors for over an hour, the House General Investigating Committee unanimously voted to adopt the report submitted by its panel of legal experts and transmit the findings to all House members.
The decision follows the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit’s more than two-month investigation into allegations of a quid pro quo offer that stemmed from a June 12 meeting between Bonnen, Michael Quinn Sullivan, the conservative activist and CEO of the political advocacy group, Empower Texans, and Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock who was the House Republican Caucus’ chairman at the time.
The Star-Telegram obtained a copy of the report, which was not immediately made available to the public. The report analyzes whether Bonnen or Burrows violated four different sections of state law and the Texas Constitution, in addition to assessing whether any House rules were broken.
Committee chairman Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, said the report found that Bonnen’s actions “likely violated” a section of the Texas Government Code that prohibits state officials acting in their official capacity from soliciting favors at the benefit of others.
The report also found the Texas Constitution’s prohibition on bribery is broad enough to include Bonnen’s actions, but noted that either the legislature or a “a prosecuting arm of government” would have to take action for repercussions to occur.
The panel — which consisted of Patricia Gray and Will Hartnett, both former House members, and Thomas R. Phillips, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas — did not recommend criminal prosecution based on the evidence, and it refrained from considering what actions the committee or House might take.
The report notes that one could argue Bonnen attempted to solicit benefits for himself “by improving his likelihood of being re-elected Speaker or reducing his upcoming campaign expenditures.” However, it cited a lack of case law and dissimilarities between Bonnen’s actions and the “common perception” of bribery as reasons against prosecution under the Texas Penal Code.
The report also found there was not sufficient evidence to prove violations of the Texas Election Code.
The committee’s adoption of the panel’s report concludes its investigation into the June 12 meeting, Meyer said.
“The committee has confirmed what we have known for months and the conclusion of their report speaks for itself. ‘The information produced for the Public Integrity Unit Report militates against criminal prosecution of Speaker Bonnen,’” Cait Meisenheimer, a spokeswoman for Bonnen, wrote in a statement shortly after the committee’s decision.
In October, the Brazoria County District Attorney announced that after reviewing the Rangers’ investigation, she determined there was not sufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges against Bonnen. Just days before, Bonnen had announced he would not seek re-election as House Speaker or to the Texas legislature amid a wave of calls for his resignation after Sullivan released a previously secret recording of the June meeting.
The recording largely supported Sullivan’s allegations that Bonnen propositioned Sullivan to target Republican House members and, in exchange, extended the possibility of granting long-sought after press credentials to writers of Empower Texans’ news site, Texas Scorecard.
While the House Speaker does not have the authority to grant press credentials, the report referenced Bonnen’s ability to appoint the person who can: the House Administration Committee Chair.
Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, is the current chairman of the committee, and is being sued by Texas Scorecard for denying two of the site’s writers House media credentials earlier this year. In his interview with the Texas Rangers, Geren said he denied the Texas Scorecard writers credentials because the site is “an arm of Empower Texans, which operates a PAC,” according to the panel’s final report.
The report concluded that, “if Representative Geren were correct that Texas Scorecard is engaged in lobbying, paid advocacy, advertising, publicity or promotion work for Empower Texans Political Action Committee,” then it would be a violation of House rules for Bonnen to arrange credentials for them.
“What we have learned today is the #TxLege House Rules can be read to allow a speaker to offer a quid pro quo, then repeatedly lie to his members and the public,” Sullivan wrote on Twitter shortly after the committee’s decision. “The (culture) around the Texas Capitol is a sewer. It won’t be cleaned up until it is cleaned out.”
Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, and vice-chair of the committee said this process has been “one of the most uncomfortable yet necessary experiences,” since she joined the legislature in 2013.
“This process has exposed areas in law that we need to address next session to improve transparency and trust in government,” Collier said. “This report, while complete, still has areas that we can improve on.”
Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, credited Collier for calling for the committee to take up the matter, writing in a statement Friday, “that’s the only reason we now have the first public, official report on that meeting.” Turner also echoed Collier’s call for the legislature to pass ethics reforms in the wake of the report’s findings.
The Star-Telegram filed a records request for the Texas Rangers’ final investigative report in October. The Texas Department of Public Safety requested a ruling from the Attorney General’s Office on the matter, claiming the records were exempt from disclosure.
DPS argued the report was confidential based on sections of Government Code that allow the General Investigating Committee to withhold information, as well as state statute that allows law enforcement to withhold records in investigations that did not result in a conviction.
The Attorney General’s Office has yet to issue a ruling, and has until January 21, 2020 to do so.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 12:29 PM.
