Could Still Get Worse

New — Here's the TV ad that the mysterious new group Coulda Been Worse LLC is airing in Texas, targeting @GregAbbott_TX: pic.twitter.com/mdFCzfGLzP

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) September 9, 2022

I read about this on the Texas Tribune. I haven't seen it yet, other than in this tweet. Gotta say, I like it. And Abbot doesn't:

Abbott’s campaign quickly raised questions about the group.

“How dirty can Beto’s scam dark money groups be if they won’t give directly to him?” Abbott strategist Dave Carney tweeted. “Won’t protect him for accountability.”

I've no idea what "accountability" they're squealing about.  There isn't a false fact in that ad, right down to Abbott's statement shortly after the Uvalde massacre that ends it.  Nobody knows who this group is, and frankly, this is just Citizens United coming home to roost:

A group by the same name was registered as an LLC late last month in Delaware, according to records there. Its registered agent is Corporation Service Company in Wilmington. Delaware is notorious for having some of the most lax corporate laws in the nation, allowing people to form corporations there while providing little public information about themselves.

As an LLC, the group is not immediately subject to state requirements to disclose its donors as more traditional political action committees are required to do. The group would have to register with the Texas Ethics Commission — and face the state’s disclosure requirements — if it met the state’s definition of a political committee: “two or more persons acting in concert with a principal purpose of accepting political contributions or making political expenditures.” But whether it meets that definition remains unknown unless the group volunteers more information about itself.

A national campaign finance expert, Brett Kappel, said there is “nothing illegal” about the group’s advertising due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which cleared the way for corporations and other third-party groups to dump unlimited money into elections.

Beto isn't cozying up to this:

Asked about the group after a campaign stop Thursday in Lockhart, O’Rourke said he did not “know who this is.’ He said the group, as well as any others like it, should disclose their donors even if they are not required to by law.

“Republicans, Democrats, people across the state of Texas, want to make sure that we know who is seeking to influence the outcomes of elections,” O’Rourke said.

But he's not exactly running from it, either.   Me, I'll just assume it's not Russia or North Korea or Saudi Arabia, and leave it alone.  What's life without a little mystery?  Especially since it's bugging Greg Abbott.