An Owellian Effort by the Texas Ethics Commission

An Owellian Effort by the Texas Ethics Commission

By

James Scott Trimm

In George Orwell’s 1984 the government kept track of all of its subjects actions.  The government was likened to a benevolent big brother, and the government slogan was “Big Brother is Watching You.”  In order to control speech it was necessary to monitor everything the people did, so that the Ministry of Love could properly intimidate the population.

Big Brother kept track of his subjects thru various departments.  Thru the art of double speak (using words to mean the opposite of what they normally mean) Big Brother maintained control over the people through various government departments.  The Ministry of Peace dealt mostly with war.  The Ministry of Truth dealt with propaganda.  The Ministry of Plenty was in charge of rationing.  And the ministry of Love was essentially the secret Police. 

Now I have a revelation for you.  Here in Texas we have a benignly named state “commission” with a similar agenda of regulating and chilling free speech. 

The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) was created by voters in 1991 with the best of intentions, the very same kinds of intentions with which the road to George Orwell Hell is paved.  The original purpose of the TEC was “"provide guidance on various public ethics laws" within the state of Texas.  The legislature later gave this commission various other duties, including the Orwellian task of filing of campaign finance regulatory statements by citizens who engage in political speech related to campaigns and elections. 

For some time now the TEC has been pushing the bounds of its authority, in an effort to chill free speech and especially targeting conservative groups.

A story by J. Christian Adams was recently published at PJ Media exposing that:

Texas state campaign finance regulators are pursuing enforcement actions seeking the names of donors to conservative organizations. With other state regulators in Democrat-run states, these speech regulators are coordinating their responses to free speech litigation and state legislation limiting their regulatory powers.

Adams presents emails revealing that John Moore, Director of Enforcement at the TEC, has solicited the help of a “community of attorneys” hosted by the state of Vermont to help in his crusade to force Empower Texans to disclose its donors to the TEC.

Tony McDonald at the Texas Scorecard writes:

Texans will recall that John Moore was the TEC staffer who advised the commission to ignore the US and Texas constitutional arguments put forward in Empower Texans’ case. Later, Paul Hobby, the chairman of the TEC, a democrat appointed to the commission by House Speaker Joe Straus, told Empower Texans attorneys that the commission wasn’t there “to call constitutional balls and strikes.”

In reaction to this newly revealed information, Michael QuinSullivan, the president of Empower Texans posted on his Facebook page:

It was revealed by a national publication today that in trying to silence citizens Texas bureaucrats are conspiring with George Soros' leftwing groups. The same "Ethics" Commission bureaucrats who say the Constitution doesn't apply to them, actively work with speech-regulators in other states to develop litigation tactics suppressing First Amendment Rights. It's way past time to bring ethics to the Ethics Commission.

Readers may recall how the IRS has in recent years abused its powers to suppress conservative “Tea Party” groups and intimidate conservatives. 

Now Big Brother wants names, he wants to know who dares to thwart his power by supporting limited government, personal freedom organizations like Empower Texans.  And now Texas very own Ministry of Love, the TEC, is consorting with George Soros leftists to find some means to get your names! 

Big Brother is watching you!

Money is speech. Our nation was built on anonymous speech. The booklet Common Sense was originally published anonymously, as were the Federalist Papers. Anonymous speech should be protected speech.

One final note: In a recent blog I revealed the AustinEstablishment’s plan to oust conservative hero and taxpayer champion Jonathan Stickland and replace him with a Straus recruit.  Now hold onto your hats.  Stickland’s challenger in the upcoming primary (Scott Fisher) is also a former member of the Texas Ethics Commission!  You cannot make this stuff up!