In November of 2007, Chris Bell filed a lawsuit against Governor Rick Perry's 2006 re-election campaign and the Republican Governor's Association claiming they illegally hid $1 million in donations from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. The suit alleges that the RGA was not legally set up to make donations at the time of the contributions to Perry. More information on the allegations in the suit is here. On Tuesday in Austin, the plaintiffs survived a motion to dismiss.
District Judge John Dietz late [Tuesday] denied efforts by Texans for Rick Perry and the Republican Governors Association to throw out a lawsuit brought against them by Democrat Chris Bell, who ran against Perry in 2006, said Bell lawyer Buck Wood.[...]
Wood said the Dietz ruling did not address Bell's own effort to have a summary judgment in the case. If that effort is also denied, the case will move closer to a trial.