When it accused District 105 candidate Susan Motley of breaking the law by campaigning last week, Rodney Anderson’s campaign folks didn’t expect the feds to issue a ruling before Election Day.
That might have been true at the time, since it turned out that—contrary to Anderson’s campaign fliers—the U.S. Office of Special Counsel didn’t actually have a complaint against Motley. But after Anderson’s people sent their letter in late Monday, it took just a few days for the feds to dismiss it. The official decision came Thursday.
In short, as almost every non-Anderson lawyer I spoke to had already assured me, Motley is free to run for office as a non-profit employee.
Below is the letter clearing Motley, followed by the Anderson campaign’s original complaint. I’ll update with comments from the campaigns as they come in.
Update 9:30 a.m. – Anderson and Motley have yet to respond. The first comment is from Anderson’s campaign strategist, Corbin Casteel, via text: “I am in contact with our attorneys and OSC. And I am the spokesman for the campaign, as you know full well. Please stop calling Rodney and anyone else looking for a comment. Stand by.”
Update 3 p.m.: I’ve yet to hear back from Anderson’s campaign, which sent out a second mailer yesterday referencing the now-dismissed complaint. Susan Motley released this statement:
“In his politics-as-usual approach, my opponent, Rodney Anderson, continues to launch nasty personal attacks against me that have no basis in law or in fact – even after he shook my hand Monday, looked into my eyes, and personally apologized to me for doing so. If I were him, I might prefer to sling mud and avoid talking about his own record too, since he voted to cut more than $5 billion from public education and voted to deny health care to more than 200,000 Texas women. I invite him to quit lying to voters, not only about me, but also about the policies and principles that he stands for. He’s shown us his true colors here and with his prior votes, and both show that he can’t be trusted. No matter what he says or what he does, I will continue standing up for the people of our district and will fight for a better future for all of us.”