Vile, disgusting, authoritarian – one quickly runs out of adjectives.
Still a crook any way you look
Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down an immigrants rights group in Houston, alleging it is “systematically” flouting nonprofit rules by advocating too aggressively against state laws and political candidates.
It is the latest attempt by the Republican attorney general to shutter groups aiding immigrants in Texas. Paxton has sought, unsuccessfully so far, to close a handful of Catholic-affiliated migrant shelters along the border, alleging they are engaged in human trafficking.
But the drive against FIEL Houston, a longtime nonprofit advocating for immigrants, takes a new tact, arguing the group has run afoul of federal rules governing how far nonprofits can go in seeking to influence legislation, and barring certain nonprofits from backing political candidates.
“FIEL openly flouts these rules,” Paxton’s office said in a lawsuit filed this summer.
The suit, which was not reported, points to a series of social media posts in which the group deemed former President Donald Trump “El Hijo Del Diablo,” or “son of the Devil,” called Gov. Greg Abbott “a violent racist Fascist man,” and advocated repeatedly against SB4, the state’s migrant deportation law that has been blocked by the courts.
Paxton is asking Harris County District Judge Ravi K. Sandill to revoke FIEL’s corporation and “dissolve its existence.” Sandill heard arguments in the case on Thursday.
FIEL argued in court filings that Paxton is retaliating after the group challenged state election laws in court, including in one lawsuit that specifically names Paxton as a defendant. They argue it is the latest example of what a judge in July deemed “outrageous and intolerable” behavior by Paxton to “selectively interpret” laws to advance his own political agenda.
“Paxton has filed a series of unsuccessful lawsuits targeting non-profit organizations with whose content or mission he disagrees,” the group said in court filings. “These are not ‘content neutral’ state actions across the political spectrum or based on conduct.”
[…]
“When it is an election year, if an organization makes public statements that are overwhelmingly negative toward one candidate and does not do the same with respect to other candidates, that is a factor strongly indicating participation in, or intervention in, a political campaign,” said Johnny Buckles, a law professor at the University of Houston.
While the Internal Revenue Service polices nonprofits’ tax statuses, Buckles said state attorneys general do have jurisdiction over them because they are incorporated in the states. However, he said state attorneys general typically go after nonprofits for misusing money, rather than engaging in politics.
“This is not a common type of proceeding,” he said of the Paxton suit.
Indeed. And it’s impossible to imagine Paxton taking similar action against a rightist 503(c). His only aim is political, and he always acts in the same interest.
Obviously, we need to vote his ass out. Easier said than done. We could get a temporary boost from the FBI and a grand jury, but while that could take Paxton himself off the board, Greg Abbott would get to appoint a replacement until that next election. All roads lead to the ballot box. Maybe there is some federal intervention that could help, I don’t know. I cordially invite every Democratic member of Texas’ Congressional delegation to ponder that question. And be as ruthless about it as Paxton has been. The Trib and the Houston Landing have more.
Such indignation, I wish some of it was level at the present mayor, who seems to tend to bad-mouth people of color.
Pingback: Lawsuit against FIEL tossed | Off the Kuff