Endangered House Republican Faces Claims
on Violations of State Deceptive Video Ban

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor
October 18, 2020

Democrat Elizabeth Beck accused GOP State Rep. Craig Goldman on Sunday of breaking a law that he helped pass with the creation of a new campaign commercial that twists her words into fiction with slick video editing that lawmakers outlawed two years ago.

Sparks flew in one of the hottest Texas House races when Beck's campaign attorney detailed the allegations in a letter that he fired off to television stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with a request to have them take the Goldman spot in question off the air immediately.

A Fort Worth attorney who's been heavily armed in the bid to give Goldman the boot in the general election 15 days from now, Beck had the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation in her corner as the organization that staged the forum where the alleged violation of the new state law that criminalized so-called "deep fake videos" that are fabricated for the sake of hoodwinking voters before an election.

The pro-public schools group is associated with one of the largest Republican donors in Texas in H-E-B owner Charles Butt of San Antonio. Butt has been the most prolific advocate for public education and private school vouchers opponent in the Lone Star State.

The president of the RYHT Foundation, Shari Albright, had sent a cease and desist letter to the Goldman campaign on Saturday with the assertion that it had infringed on legal copyright protections with the unlicensed and unauthorized use of the video that was tailored in a way that falsified Beck's position on taxes.

Albright said the candidates had been warned before the event that any subsequent use of the "recorded live stream" was strictly prohibited. "This is important as RYHT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and cannot provide campaign material for any candidate," Albright added.

The furor centers on comments that Beck made on the state budget deficit that the Legislature will confront in 2021 when she suggested that "new streams of revenues" will have to be explored at a Capitol where spending cuts alone won't bridge the projected gap.

But Beck cited the possibility of casino gambling and retail marijuana sales as potential revenue generators before the Goldman campaign used the illegal video redesign to make it appear that the Democrat had endorsed higher taxes on property and business and the imposition of a state income tax as well."

Beck had said exactly the opposite of the conclusions that a narrator in the Goldman advertisement makes about the revenue streams remark.

"So I don’t think now is the time to raise taxes on Texans when we're already hurting because of a global pandemic and economic downfall," Beck had said when asked by a moderator about her position on new and higher taxes. "And so I would not be in favor of raising taxes or creating a state income tax.".

Beck seized on the blowup to highlight Goldman's vote in favor of Senate Bill 751 in 2019 - a measure that banned the creation of deceptive videos with the intent to influence an election. The legislation sailed through the House and Senate with only three opposing votes that were cast by tea party representatives before Governor Greg Abbott signed the proposal into law.

The battle between Goldman and Beck in House District 97 is one of the Democrats' top targets on the lower chamber battlefield in 2020 when they can reclaim the majority with a net gain of nine seats or more.