The Cease & desist letter sent to Liberty in Action
‘On 4/9, the Kerrville Forward group posted a picture of a “cease and desist” letter on their website announcing that Liberty in Action had been “served.” The letter was dated 4/9/24. We had not been served. The next morning, Hill Country Community Journal newspaper front page said “’We the People’ group facing legal issues”. We at Liberty in Action had not received anything. How did Community Journal know? In short, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors, a smear campaign.
Liberty in Action is a 501(c)4 non-profit. We don’t fall under the same guidelines as a campaign or a Political Action Committee (PAC). In addition, Kerrville Forward is claiming that we broke the law because we don’t have the word “for” on our voter guide (as in Roman Garcia “for” Kerrville mayor). There’s a correct avenue to handle this. If you think somebody has not followed campaign laws, there’s a process to file a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). If the TEC finds you in violation, they will send a letter. At that point you have thirty days to fix the problem. An attorney does not have the same authority that TEC does. So this is a big nothing-burger!
As an aside, Liberty in Action did finally receive the physical “cease and desist” letter on 4/15/24. The mailbox had already been checked on 4/11 as our volunteer was headed out of town. The certified letter from Kerrville Forward’s lawyer arrived that afternoon and was in the facility’s packages area. As a result, LIA did not actually see the letter until Monday, April 15.
The “cease and desist” letter is just smoke and mirrors, a smear campaign. Don’t fall for it!
Out of an abundance of caution, Liberty in Action has now added the word “for” to our mailer. We also placed an order for more voter guides because we ran out, and added the word “for” there too. Again, we don’t actually fall under the rules of a PAC because we are a 501(c)4. Our focus is on educating our fellow Hill Country residents on all issues that affect our community not just campaigns.
A complaint filed with the TEC by John Harrison – the agent of record for Kerrville Forward – was received on 4/17 by LIA for review. The process is for the TEC to review such complaints and make a determination of how they will proceed, if at all. At that time LIA will determine our next steps with this obvious smear campaign. Additionally, Mr. Harrison, who claims to support “conservatives” through the Kerrville Forward site and mailers, had a Biden sign in his yard back in 2020. So he is a DEMOCRAT who is smearing LIA’s efforts to educate our community on who the true conservatives are running for Kerrville City races.
Bottom line… This is the latest effort by Mr. Harrison to harass LIA for being involved in the community and standing up for keeping Kerrville conservative.
The actual timeline AND interesting connections...
APRIL 9, 2024
A “Cease & Desist” letter is generated by Marziani, Stevens & Gonzalez PLLC on behalf of Kerrville Forward PAC. This same day a post shows up on the Kerrville Forward site about this letter that has supposedly been delivered (note the past tense).
WTP-LIA has not received any letter at this point…
APRIL 10, 2024
The Community Journal prints an article by Tammy Prout (who ran for Kerr County Commissioner in March and lost – do we sense sour grapes?) Interesting point of the article at the very end was that they did not even try to reach out for comment. What sort of journalism is that?
That afternoon, word started getting to WTP-LIA as people saw the Journal’s article… WTP-LIA managers watch their mailbox.
WTP-LIA has still not received any letter at this point…
APRIL 11, 2024
Letter was sent certified mail by MS&G, arriving to the WTP-LIA mail service’s office in afternoon. (WTP-LIA manager checked the mailbox that morning, then was out of town for their family’s volunteer commitment all weekend)
WTP-LIA has still no physical letter in hand…
APRIL 15, 2024
This day was the next opportunity to check for the letter. While the actual letter was received on 4/11, this was a larger package locked away from box access until this day.
John Harrison files complaint against LIA Network with the TEC. (If the process was done properly, THIS would have been the first step.) Another interesting note: Mr. Harrison filed a complaint against another LIA supporter in 2022. That complaint was dismissed by the TEC.
Most of the fliers in question have been distributed by this point in time.
To end this criticism, the word “FOR” is added to each race on materials.
APRIL 17, 2024
TEC complaint filed by John Harrison received by LIA. (The TEC has five days to determine if they will proceed with any further action.)
Stay tuned as we await the TEC decision.