Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

3 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN QROVCR~CLLCRS 1 ArrolNrr QCNIIAL Honorable Paul Grog&n CountyAttorney ~0nt~oKlel-y county conroe,Texas Dear Sir: Opinion Flo. O-7402 Pour letter of rem this dcpartxmt on thq above "As prod Denocratic Zxe teo were paid end the fund deposited in the bank to the credit of the Wontgomwy County DOT%- cratic Executive Comittee, - R. A.,PoweU, Chaim'. "At the find. merti~q of said Cxecutive Con- nittee on August 29tb, 1946, snd after ell other bills for expenses of holdiw the two primlee .-.--” .- -- _. “^” ._,, __ ._. -_.__“_“-., ^_,“.^” .,“,__- .___^“_-_I-“_ .-^_“_- __“__.. -- -.-_- _ _-.- -.- Hon. Paul Grogan - Page 2 *3rcL $100 to be pnld to t-ho Sooretary of the Conndttee for rsr~Icee nnderud by him e* DU& inoludiog lntiduztal eqensas ind b yh imfo rp o o ta gle M,. “4th. $~tehpaidtotb, ch8irmaa 44oa4pQnMt.tonferhl88e ??I Qos ill oonneatloa with the holang of et& g d nla l ly 4 c tio M . “5th. “ht. Bari% orsoreed tha cmdibrt-88 for - pow4 dove unntionad (u wall M the 0Jz- ~. 5 expenee~~ of holding the primary electlone, doer t&o Cordtter halo thr authority to pa-odd. hy nrolutioa for the dlstqrowrt of Nc.h fundafor mlah purpooor7 WZd. “3rd. Doe.a the Comtltke have authority to creata 8 m~orve fund and tot&n put of the wax- pamled balance in suoh roeem fund? “4th. X8 it neoessary for the Con8aftteu to t&u w.xm rffimatite cction Cireatlng the aak&q of a refund to emdidater, before the County CW w&ill be authorimsd to a&a 8 refund of the unexpended balance to the contributing cmdidatos? Cour &ttez%lon iii oallad to the arth.oritSes and stotutoa becxing upon quuetfone submitted. - kufban Parhr 99 5 , “i. Znd, 10741 Srsall ~8. Parker, :19 S. ly* Znd, t&J, 8. 5. Art, 3108 ad 3022-A.* For the purposeof this opinion we ahall divide your q&e- time into tim groups. X6 &all refer to your first five questions as Crwap A and your aocond four qiestiona ee Group B. ,ucstiono Uos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Grwh A are anmcored in the our O@bions x08. 0-2688ud h,d. fn (+hiOA x0. o- d that t&a County Bxecutive Comlttee WUI not authorieed to (~sae98the v&riow oaadlbtrs a8 M expanseof the prlaarya foe for the mber~~ of meid eomitteo, W quo- the follot4qhna said Opinian’ m-tiele 3l08, V.A.C.5., provldesr "'Atthe 6’ Hon. Paul Grogan - Pa;;0 4 and officOO to be filled by the voters of Ouch 00unty or,precinot only (candidate8 for State offices excepted), In such,mannor aa In their judgment IO ust and equitable giving due consideration to the i!mportance and Omoiuments of each nuch office for which a nomination Is to be made and shall, b reOo- lution, direct the chairman to immediately mar 1 to each person whose name has been requested to be placed on the official ballot a statement of the amount of much ax nees 80 apportioned to him, with the request that r e pay thO same to the county chair- man on or before the Saturday before the fourth Monday in June thereof.’ (Underscoring ours) “Article 3117, V.A.C.S., is as follwsr “‘The various county committees of any political party, on the third Nonday in June preceding each general primary, ehall meet at the county seat and determine by lot the order in which the names of all candidate8 for all offices requested to be printed on the official ballot ahall be printed thereon.’ “Article 3118, V.A.C.S., reads as follows: O~Thoro shall be for each political party ro- quired by this law to hold primary elections for nomination of its candidates, n county executive committee, to be composed of a county chainnan, and one member from each election precinct in such county; the committeemen from such election precinct shall be chairman of his election precinct, snci the said county chairman ehall be olacted on the .general prl- mary election day; the county chairman by the quali- fied voters of the whole county, and the precinct chairman by the qualified voters of their respective election precincts. Said county and precinct chairman Ohall assume the dutior, of their rospoctlve offices on Saturday following the runoff primary WOdiatOly after the committee has declared the results of the run-off primary election. Said county chairman shall 7 “IO the em. OS lhaf'fmrsbv’, Pwker, 99 S;*‘, (26) 1074, the court had before it 0. &Alar question to the one peeon6ed in your request. 'i'equote w4 fol- low'h&br&Ue&~ froPr8aidaa6eI pIwlslone in the eta- xn 8n8wwto your fU%h qpostlon in Group A and your third queetion in Group B, we qoll your attwtlon to the follouiw lurG- t&a&ein Kam v8* Farkor, 99 9.‘;;. (fw 1094, w161 ‘If thoro ir a aurplw of mosey on hand and with the cm after all the oxpmm of the cemphligr, the first and second pdmries, am paAd in Awmt, k-on. PaulGrogan- Pcig 6 8 it rlghtiUlybelo-8 to tic donors,ti.ooa Mm I.+ twkd it to tb ohalnma, aad lt ehuld be returned totioty*o put it up ln pro tloaW Jha$ they each , This we ncop~ p” tod by the appllants whntheyrafundedorpaldbbak?o paroat of the tundDtheyhAd onhuxl aftortrn Hoondpx-sEmy. 1tia WiQmt cslthority-of 1831to it ior bockrat6 for foxmar yuar~ time, end ior to th8 dAEiix¶rIan*ad/ 8U LLQt Pl’OVidrd Or &ll th It&lltb8. %e:';rtt ti% tm lwimrduo doea mt l~;~~~ut thns Wnth8, and the olmlram f&ret ha the ~~o*(lmoac8 ftwa the maduauu - hr9 In viewof the forego deolrricin, it Is tho opinionof this dapartmntthetthe Demoare&i”i:e Executive Comlttse does not hwa the authorit to areatea resorvafundbut must refundall of the unexpended bSL we of she taonie6 mu on &and after the nmmuuy oxpenoes ham bean paid. In vluw of the foro~oi.ng, it is unaeaoseary to iwafer quaetionsa andtwoof@roupB.