Mayoral candidate Doug Greco sues city to overturn campaign finance rule

Mayoral candidate Doug Greco and his campaign, along with Ramon Duran – a Bexar County resident who supports Greco’s candidacy – filed suit in federal court on Tuesday, challenging the provision of the Austin City Charter that prevents City Council candidates from accepting more than $47,000 in contributions from people who live outside the Austin city limits. The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to declare as unconstitutional a section of the charter limiting contributions from nonresidents. They also want the judge to grant a temporary injunction and then a permanent injunction against enforcement of that law.

Greco, a longtime social justice advocate and former Austin teacher, has complained that his relatives in other states are unable to contribute because of the limitation.

“I should be able to run a grassroots fundraising campaign from friends, colleagues, supporters and families from inside and outside of Austin so I can continue to fight for working families and stand up to Greg Abbott against his attacks on our civil rights,” Greco said in a news release echoing his comments at a morning press conference.

Attorneys Holt Lackey and Rebecca Webber are listed as attorneys for Greco on the federal court filing. Lackey said Tuesday, “The rule is unconstitutional under numerous precedents and we are confident that the court will strike it down. Courts across the country have struck down rules” similar to this one. Time is obviously an important factor with the election coming up on Nov. 5, and Lackey said he hoped to reach an agreement with the city on when they might appear in court.

A city spokesperson responded to a request for comment from the Austin Monitor by saying, “The City of Austin is aware of the recent federal lawsuit challenging its Charter provision limiting campaign contributions from donors outside the city limits. The city will respond to the lawsuit through the appropriate court process. The challenged aggregate contribution limit was part of a voter-led initiative in the late 1990s to maintain the integrity of the City’s local council elections.”

The contribution limit was raised from $46,000 in August to adjust for inflation.

Lackey said he would ask that the court act as quickly as possible, noting that if the city will not agree to an early date, “we will ask the court to issue the order on October 4,” one month before the election.

Greco has criticized Mayor Kirk Watson, who has a fundraising lead over all candidates. He also said two of the other candidates, including former Council Member Kathie Tovo, are able to loan their campaigns money so they are less dependent on contributions.

Tovo told the Monitor, “Austin voters passed this campaign reform rule overwhelmingly because they didn’t want our city politics dominated by outside special interests. Austin’s fair campaign rules are intended to protect the power of voters. I support the law. We need reform to give Austinites more of a voice, not to open the doors to outside money.”

The lawsuit says that the current statute “restricts the First Amendment rights of out-of-Austin donors and is neither closely drawn nor narrowly tailored to any legitimate government interest, it is unconstitutional.”

According to Jack Craver at the Austin Politics Newsletter, Greco reported raising $88,334 in the first half of the year and, of that, 59 percent of that came from people outside of Austin. He was quoting from a complaint filed against Greco with the city’s Ethics Review Commission. Another complaint was filed against Watson, also alleging that he had raised more money than allowed from outside the city. The Monitor reached out to the Watson campaign for a comment for this story, but they declined. It is not clear what impact an injunction might have on the commission’s decision-making, but it seems unlikely they would proceed if Greco won his injunction.

Mayoral candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido likewise declined to comment.

The latest entrant into the mayor’s race, Jeffrey Bowen, said via email, “As someone that has been a plaintiff against the city and served this country to protect our rights, if Mr. Greco wants to pursue his issue in the courts, he is within his rights to do just that. Hopefully, he realizes his actions would also favor Mr. Watson in regards to how much he collected outside of the city limits. I understand this finance rule was determined by a public vote in 1997 per the article by KXAN. Yet since 1997, to my knowledge, I find it strange no one has questioned this rule.”

Asked to name some cases in which similar campaign finance regulations were overturned, Lackey referred to the state of Alaska. He noted that Alaska had a law that was very similar to the Austin charter provision. It made it illegal for a candidate to receive more than a certain amount of money from out-of-state residents. That law was declared unconstitutional. Lackey said the courts have pretty uniformly rejected such laws when asked.

Greco said he is sequestering the money he has received above the $47,000 limit. If the court sides with him, he will be able to spend it and raise more from non-Austin residents and collect more from friends who have already made contributions. All individuals are limited to contributing $450 for the Nov. 5 election.

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