Texas court grants restraining order blocking O’Rourke from fundraising in lawsuit filed by Paxton

A Texas district court granted a request for a temporary restraining order against former U.S. Rep. Robert (Beto) O’Rourke, D-El Paso, and his political action group, Powered by People. Both have reportedly raised money to fund dozens of House Democrats leaving Texas. More than 50 left in protest to prevent the Texas House from conducting official business, including voting for a Congressional redistricting bill they oppose.

On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Powered by the People and Texas Majority PAC, The Center Square reported.

On Friday afternoon, Paxton sued O’Rourke and Powered by the People in District Court in Tarrant County. Roughly three hours later, the court granted Paxton’s request for an emergency temporary restraining order to block them from continuing to raise or distribute money for absconding Democrats.

The 20-page lawsuit states, “Robert Francis O’Rourke and his political influence operation, Powered by People, are traveling the state misleadingly raising political funds to pay for the personal expenses of Texas Democrats who have abandoned their offices and fled the state in the middle of a Special Legislative Session. Texas law prohibits, as a matter of public confidence and trust, personal fundraising for state officials.

“Nevertheless, Mr. O’Rourke and Powered by People are intentionally blurring the dichotomy between political and personal funds in a deceptive and confusing manner to take advantage of donors. Mr. O’Rourke and Powered by People are directing consumers to political fundraising platforms, such as ActBlue, for the express political purpose of ‘fight[ing]’ Republicans and protecting Democratic seats from ‘corrupt republicans,’ meanwhile the funds are actually being used for lavish personal expenditures (i.e. travel on private jets, luxury hotel accommodations, and fine dining that are disconnected from, and have no legitimate purpose relating to, their legislative positions).”

“Texas law prohibits organizations from engaging in false, misleading, and deceptive acts, such as the fundraising scheme operated by O’Rourke and Powered by People,” Paxton said.

Late Friday, Judge Megan Fahey issued a 3-page ruling stating that the court “finds that harm is imminent to the State, and if the Court does not issue the Temporary Restraining 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. Because this conduct is unlawful and harms Texas consumers, restraining this conduct is in the public interest.”

She also said that O’Rourke and Powered by People “have and will continue to engage in unlawful fundraising practices and utilization of political funds in a manner that either directly violates or causes Texas Democratic Legislators to violate” Texas penal and election codes and House Rules of Procedure. “Consumers have and continue to suffer irreparable harm through these unlawful acts because they are making political contributions that are being used to fund personal expenses and violate State law.”

The order issued a series of directives and scheduled a hearing for August 19 to determine if a temporary injunction should also be issued.

After the ruling, Paxton said, “The Beto Bribe buyouts that were bankrolling the runaway Democrats have been officially stopped. People like Robert believe Texas can be bought. Today, I stopped his deceptive financial influence scheme that attempted to deceive donors and subvert our constitutional process. They told me to ‘come and take it,’ so I did.”

In response to the lawsuit, O’Rourke said, “Paxton is trying to shut down Powered by People, one of the largest voter registration organizations in the country, because our volunteers fight for voting rights and free elections… the kind of work that threatens the hold that Paxton, Trump and Abbott have on power in Texas.” He also said Paxton “wants to silence me and stop me from leading this organization. He wants to stop us from fighting Trump’s attempt to steal the five congressional seats he needs to hang on to power. But I’m not going anywhere.”