Judge expands Paxton restraining order on O’Rourke over Texas fundraising after the state attorney general accused his group of bribery and deceptive practices.
On Saturday, a Tarrant County judge broadened Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s restraining order against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and his political organization, Powered by People, in connection with its fundraising for Democratic lawmakers who left Texas during the redistricting standoff.
The ruling by Judge Megan Fahey prohibited O’Rourke and his PAC from sending money out of the state. This decision followed Paxton’s move to revoke the charter of Powered by People, alleging it engaged in bribery.
“The Court finds that harm is imminent to the State, and if the Court does not issue this order, the State will be irreparably injured. Specifically, Defendants’ fundraising conduct constitutes false, misleading, or deceptive acts under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, because Defendants are raising and utilizing political contributions from Texas consumers to pay for the personal expenses of Texas legislators, in violation of Texas law,” Fahey wrote in her four-page order.
The order also directed that financial institutions and platforms such as ActBlue are forbidden from transferring O’Rourke’s or his group’s donations outside Texas in support of what the court called an unlawful scheme.
O’Rourke has been targeted by Paxton as his PAC has raised funds for Democratic legislators who left the state for nearly two weeks to prevent GOP-backed congressional maps from advancing. On Friday, Republicans convened a second special session, with Democrats expected to return soon.
A week earlier, a Texas court had granted a temporary restraining order against O’Rourke and his group after Paxton claimed the PAC misled donors.
O’Rourke said Saturday that Powered by People provided more than $1 million to Democratic groups during the session, including the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, the Texas House Democratic Caucus, and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.
Paxton welcomed the expanded order, stating that in Texas “lawless actions have consequences, and Beto’s finding that out the hard way.”
“His fraudulent attempt to pad the pockets of the rogue cowards abandoning Texas has been stopped, and now the court has rightly frozen his ability to continue to send money outside of Texas,” Paxton said. “The cabal of Democrats who have colluded together to scam Texans and derail our Legislature will face the full force of the law, starting with Robert Francis O’Rourke.”
