Walmart Violated Texas Election Laws with Illegal $25,000 to PAC

[libertyjam]

Walmart Violated Texas Election Laws with Illegal $25,000 to Lumberton Political Committee of Realtor Joan Abshire - TEC Investigating

http://texasgopvote.com/issues/stop-big-government/walmart-violated-texas-election-laws-illegal-25000-lumberton-political-committee-005148

Author promises that he will be writing more articles in the near future detailing a much bigger problem involving Walmart and local public corruption, and even bribery.

[Seraphim]

Corporations will obviously do this, over and over and over. It's in their rational self interest based on current laws.

Just remember, in the West...particularly America..."Bribes" are not called bribery, they are called "Lobbying". It's LEGAL to bribe officials in so many ways, it's ridiculous to think, under the current structure, that it won't happen on a regular basis.

Outlaw political bribery and this sort of thing will happen sparingly.

[erowe1]

Corporations will obviously do this, over and over and over. It's in their rational self interest based on current laws.

Just remember, in the West...particularly America..."Bribes" are not called bribery, they are called "Lobbying". It's LEGAL to bribe officials in so many ways, it's ridiculous to think, under the current structure, that it won't happen on a regular basis.

Outlaw political bribery and this sort of thing will happen sparingly.

Outlaw lobbying?

[GunnyFreedom]

Outlaw lobbying?

Never work, really. Lobbying is just about the most heavily regulated practice on Earth. The more laws they pass restricting it, the more insidious it gets. Only way to really stop it is to stop Congress from having the ability to give them what they want in the first place. Easily enough done - just obey the Constitution. For more local governments that will be more difficult, but I am sure a similar 'strike the root' strategy can be developed.

[Pericles]

That ^ Campaign contributions and big government have a direct correlation.

[paulbot24]

They probably weren't planning on repeating it anyways when they went to wire Chinese yuans, out of habit, and got raped on the conversion rate to dollars.

[angelatc]

Corporations will obviously do this, over and over and over. It's in their rational self interest based on current laws.

.


I hope Ruger starts doing it.

[angelatc]

Way to go, truthseekers! Way to jump on the "we hate everything" without even checking any facts.

Just read the post. This is a whiny WalMart hater looking to make noise.

The violation isn't that WalMart donated money. That's apparently not illegal in Texas, I guess.


According to Texas Election Code, Title 15, Subchapter B, § 253.031, it is a Class A Misdemeanor for a political action committee to knowingly accept political contributions totaling more than $500 or make or authorize political expenditures totaling more than $500 at a time when a campaign treasurer appointment for the committee is not in effect. Both contribution and expenditure violations have occurred.

See? WalMart didn't break the law. The PAC may have broken the law by accepting the money, but if this was the first donation they received, there might be another section of the law that exempts the PAC during a start up period.

[libertyjam]

Well Kudos to Angela for actually reading the story!

I think it was a Texas politician, possibly LBJ, who said, "In Texas, politics is a full contact sport."

But the real interesting things it seems is not the headline, but the questions that can be raised in the underlying story, and not those necessarily enumerated in the story.
Notice the name of the PAC the donation went to. Ostensibly a PAC that would exclude the likes of WalMart. And how does a local WalMart manager get to direct such a large political contribution to a small town PAC? And it's not about WalMart haters so much, thought the blogger certainly used that aspect as well, Iit's a question of how political slush funds of corporate contributions flow. I doubt that WalMart will get into any trouble over this, but the PAC officers certainly might, though it will likely be only a light slap on a wrist somewhere. Also, with the contribution, what influence is this corporation trying to buy? In this states politics, not all the underlying questions/issues will be spelled out in a particular story of blog, but the political junkies will often be able to spot them anyway. Also at the end the author does raise his own questions and sets a hook as well, it begs the question, "What is going on here?":


Since when does Walmart just make massive contributions like this without even checking to verify that the contribution was legal? Also, since when does Walmart (out of state corporation) get involved in a small town local issue like this by pumping more money into this local issue election than the total amount of all recent local election contributions combined?

The answer to those questions is actually much worse than you might think. This article about a campaign finance violation is just the tip of the iceberg. I will be writing more articles in the near future detailing a much bigger problem involving Walmart and local public corruption, and even bribery. But hey, that is East Texas politics for you. Except now, the East Texas good ol' boy network is funded by the big purse of an out of state corporation (Walmart).

Also a lesson is here, PAC funding is heavily scrutinized and every little letter of the law will be used by your opponents and funding a PAC before it is even formed is a pretty glaring no-no in the rough and tumble of state politics. So beware.

Anyway, makes a nice little interlude with insight to and taste of the behind the scenes of state politics.

[libertyjam]

PS. the title is the title from the blog

[Uncle Emanuel Watkins]

Outlaw lobbying?

Those corrupt officials on the state level don't support the federal level, but the lobbying that happens on the federal level.

[Uncle Emanuel Watkins]

Way to go, truthseekers! Way to jump on the "we hate everything" without even checking any facts.

Just read the post. This is a whiny WalMart hater looking to make noise.

The violation isn't that WalMart donated money. That's apparently not illegal in Texas, I guess.



See? WalMart didn't break the law. The PAC may have broken the law by accepting the money, but if this was the first donation they received, there might be another section of the law that exempts the PAC during a start up period.
Why are you taking up for WorldMart? Could it be that people are finally fed up with them punking their employees to the extent that the rest of us are going to have to pay for their healthcare? Either pay your employees enough to pay for the social communism of Obamacare, or do away with Obamacare!

[angelatc]

PS. the title is the title from the blog


Which goes back to my point about it being a whiny little blogger grinding his WalMart ax. The rest of it is just small town politics. Politics is all about who you know - anybody who finds it surprising that the mayor is chummy with the local WalMart manager is new to this game.

But on a tangent, this exemplifies why the Citizens United decision was correct. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't think the owners of American gun companies should be allowed to state their case directly to the public on the public airwaves, then you don't really believe liberty.

[angelatc]

Why are you taking up for WorldMart? Could it be that people are finally fed up with them punking their employees to the extent that the rest of us are going to have to pay for their healthcare? Either pay your employees enough to pay for the social communism of Obamacare, or do away with Obamacare!


And here I thought I was taking up for the truth.