Republican Governors Assoc. Fined $2 Mil for Campaign Finance Violation

Wow.

A judge has ordered the Republican Governors Association to pay $2 million to Texas' 2006 Democratic gubernatorial nominee because of campaign finance violations.

A Travis County judge ruled Tuesday that the RGA should have disclosed a $1 million donation it gave to a group called Texans for Rick Perry.

The RGA received $500,000 from Houston developer Bob Perry, the nation's largest individual donor during the 2006 election cycle. A lawsuit filed by former Democratic candidate Chris Bell claims the money was illegally funneled through the RGA to support Gov. Rick Perry's re-election bid.

The Republican Governors Association has a wide cash-on-hand lead over its Democratic counterpart, so this fine won't necessarily devastate the organization. That said, it's never good when a committee is forced to dole out a seven-figure check to the other side due to its own malfeasance. The $2 million the Texas judge has forced the RGA to pay Chris Bell is $2 million that isn't going to go to the Colorado Governor race, or to the Florida Governor race, or to the Wisconsin Governor race. For that matter, it's $2 million that isn't going to go to the Texas Governor race, which polling suggests will be competitive again this year.