HOUSTON – After six years of litigation, the pervasive and egregious corruption within the Houston Independent School District has been dealt a serious blow by a jury of Houston citizens. Today, the Campaign Legal Center, alongside Lawyers at Brazil & Dunn and The Greenwood Prather Law Firm, secured a multi-million dollar jury verdict against a former school board trustee and others for a widespread pay-to-play scheme.

CLC was part of a legal team representing a Houston construction contractor, Gil Ramirez, who was locked out of the school district’s construction contracts after refusing to participate in the scheme in which the school board president, Larry Marshall, was accepting bribes in cash and campaign contributions in exchange for ensuring that certain construction contractors would receive lucrative public contracts.

“School officials have the duty to ensure tax dollars, bond money and federal funds benefit the students and employees of the school district, not their own pockets,” said Gerry Hebert, director of voting rights and redistricting for the Campaign Legal Center. “This verdict sends a loud and clear message that corruption schemes will not be tolerated and that Larry Marshall will not get away with abusing his position by placing his own interests above those of the students and employees of the school district.”

Hebert, along with CLC Deputy Director of Voting Rights Danielle Lang, litigated the case before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Attorneys from the law firms Brazil and Dunn, and the Greenwood Prather Law Firm also represented plaintiff Ramirez. 

 “Six years ago I was asked to pay a bribe, or to make the right choice. I declined," said plaintiff Gil Ramirez. “After six years, that decision was finally vindicated and justice was rendered.”

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Read the court decision

Today, it’s important to remember that elections come and go, but CLC’s mission remains constant: We will continue to fight to improve our democracy and for the fundamental right of all Americans to participate in the political process. We will continue to vigorously work for changes in money in politics practices, to defend voting rights and push to end the excessive partisan gerrymandering that undermines our democracy.

On Tuesday night, it was made clear that Americans support fundamental change in Washington, specifically focusing on issues of corruption and special interest power.

Donald Trump ran a campaign tapping into the deep-rooted sentiment of Americans who are unhappy with the status quo. Among his frequent targets were our broken political and campaign finance system. He spoke of "draining the Washington swamp" and proposed specific revolving door, ethics and lobbying reforms. He attacked super PACs and the power of secret money.

We know that 80 percent of voters of both parties believe that the federal government is out of touch with average citizens. This is the direct result of current money in politics practices. We saw this resonate loud and clear not only with the election of Washington-outsider Trump, but also through the passage of many strong pro-democracy measures on state and local ballots nationwide.

Tuesday’s results are proof that Americans have a hunger to fix our broken campaign finance system. As we to look toward the new administration, the Campaign Legal Center will hold President-elect Trump accountable to his campaign’s promise for democracy reform. And we will continue to work hard at the state and local level to pass more reforms that renew and expand our democracy.

Our work is needed now more than ever. 

State and Local Wins for Democracy in the 2016 Election 
 

-A matching funds public financing program in Berkeley, California

-A lobbyist gift ban and contribution restriction in San Francisco

-A direction to County Council to establish a matching funds program in Howard County, Maryland

-A reinstatement of contribution limits in Missouri

-An overhaul of South Dakota’s campaign finance laws including a voucher system, increased disclosure, lobbying restrictions and the creation of a campaign finance enforcement agency in South Dakota

-A resolution to overturn Citizens United in Washington State and California.

-New limits on contributions to candidates and on independent expenditures in Multnomah County, Oregon, a state that doesn’t currently have candidate limits

FEC Must Investigate Illegal Bonuses Tied to Campaign Donations

WASHINGTON – The Campaign Legal Center today asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate Boston-based Thornton Law Firm for reimbursing partners almost exact amounts for their political campaign contributions. This scheme allowed Thornton to funnel money to campaigns and party committees well above the legal contribution limits.

“The FEC must investigate this scheme,” said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel of the Campaign Legal Center. “Thornton employees made contributions to these campaign and were promptly reimbursed by the firm, allowing the firm to collectively give far more to individual candidates in a single year than the firm could have donated directly under federal law. This appears to be a clear violation of the law and the FEC should take this seriously.”

Lawyers at the firm have given $1.5 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and $333,000 to the Democratic National Committee between 2007 and 2016, as well as contributing significant sums to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Harry Reid, President Barack Obama and Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton. There is no evidence the recipient candidates knew about Thornton’s scheme and many candidates have returned the contributions.

Based on reports from the Boston Globe and Center for Responsive Politics, the complaint also asks the FEC to investigate Thornton Law Firm partners Michael Thornton, Garrett Bradley and David Strouss for knowingly permitting their names to be used for the straw donor contributions. Between 2010 and 2014 the three partners (and Thornton’s wife) gave $1.6 million to candidates and party committees and were reimbursed $1.4 million in “bonuses” by Thornton Law Firm.

WASHINGTON –  One day after the Obama administration announced its decision to phase out federal private prison contracts, the private prison company GEO Group made a $100,000 donation to the pro-Donald Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now, in violation of the longstanding ban on government contractors making political contributions, according to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed today by the Campaign Legal Center.

GEO receives 45 percent of its annual revenue from federal contracts. The GEO subsidiary that made the contribution, GEO Corrections Holdings Inc., operates a federal detention facility in Georgia whose contract extension was rescinded on the morning the contribution was made. Donald Trump has publicly praised the private prison system, whereas his opponent Hillary Clinton has called for its elimination.

“It is obvious GEO has a personal interest at stake this election,” said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel of the Campaign Legal Center. "One day after the Obama administration announced it would be ending GEO's contracts, the company spent $100,000 to support the one presidential candidate likely to reinstate those contracts. It’s for this exact reason why we have the federal contractor ban in place. Officials are supposed to make contracting decisions based on what's best for the public, not based on what's best for their big money backers."

The complaint alleges that GEO Corrections Holdings Inc. broke the law by making the contribution, and Rebuilding America Now also violated the law by accepting it.

CLC filed a similar complaint in July against a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, Priorities USA Action, for accepting a $200,000 contribution from a federal contractor, Suffolk Construction Company.

CLC more recently filed complaints with the FEC against both the Trump and Clinton campaigns for coordinating with their super PACs in violation of federal law.