According to this story, a church in El Paso, Texas, will ask the Texas Supreme Court to rule that churches may help get a recall petition on the ballot, whether the church is incorporated or not. On February 17 a State Appeals Court had decertified a recall petition against the Mayor of El Paso, even though the recall petition had enough signatures. The Appeals Court said corporations, even incorporated churches, can’t make contributions to a recall. The case is Cook v Tom Brown Ministries.
See Blackstone’s Commentaries Book I, Chap 18 *Of Corporations* — NOT that mere legal history means ANY thing to the New Age SCOTUS gang of 9.
You can’t have it both ways.
The Appeals Court did not say that a corporation may not make contributions to a recall effort. Mayor Cook included such a claim, and those associated with the recall effort may find it useful to portray themselves as victims of an attack on their religious beliefs, and the corporate organizations associated with their church.
Texas law does make a distinction with regard to recalls, but the Appeals Court seems to indicate that a recall effort is a ballot measure campaign (eg “Should ordinance 123.456 be repealed?” and “Should Mayor Cook be recalled?” both have a Yes/No answer). A distinction with regard to recalls might be particularly hard to defend, because the reason for the recall was that the Mayor had voted to overturn an ordinance that the voters had passed at the previous election.
It said that such contributions must be reported, and funneled through a special-purpose committee. When the trial court was hearing the case, several persons involved refused to testify on grounds of self-incrimination; which the Appeals Court said could be used to infer violations of the law in a civil case.
What the Appeals Court said that because the recall petitions were circulated in an illegal manner, that the petitions were void.
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