The Democratic nominee for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke on March 21 rebuffed legal accusations of defamation from comments he made about Dallas oil executive Kelcy Warren, chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer.
O’Rourke asked for a jury trial and a change of venue to settle the issue.
Kelcy brought the lawsuit on February 22 in San Saba County, located in central-western Texas. Warren owns property in the county.
O’Rourke asked that the venue for the public trial be moved to El Paso County where O’Rourke is a resident, declaring that the change would benefit his campaign against energy industry officials.
In a court filing, Warren’s lawsuit states that “O’Rourke intentionally, repeatedly and widely disseminated his deliberate and defamatory falsehoods through publicly released messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites and during speaking engagements and interviews.”
O’Rourke’s campaign for governor has been centered on what has been referred to locally as “Snowmaggedon” the brutal Winter Storm Uri of 2021 and the ineffective performance of energy providers.
Millions of Texans were left without power during Uri and 240 people were estimated to have died.
O’Rourke has accused energy companies of “illegally” profiting after the storm.
Energy companies took in an estimated $11 billion as a result of rate increases due to the storm, according to news reports.
Warren’s lawsuit claims O’Rourke crossed the line of political speech and was “out of bounds.”
“That Warren has committed felonies in a purported effort to profit off the suffering of his fellow Texans are completely out of bounds for any speech, let alone as talking points for a candidate for the governor of the state of Texas.
“The accusations go well beyond the sorts of vague and generalized accusations of political and corporate corruption that are often thrown around; rather they focus on a particular person, a particular campaign contribution at a specific point in time, and a particular purported favor done in exchange for the contribution,” the lawsuit said.
