Show Me the Money
July 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
While many of you are enjoying summer vacations and trying to stay as far away from politics as possible, we’ve been picking through the semi-annual campaign finance reports over at the Texas Ethics Commission website, and all this money is making us feel a little dirty. In Texas, there are no limits on how much an individual or PAC can contribute to a candidate. Each election cycle, fat-cat donors like homebuilder Bob Perry typically spend more money on pols than most of us earn in a year. And the races are only getting more expensive.
Even some lawmakers have been heard grumbling that things have gotten out of hand. Raising money is time-consuming and cuts into the business of legislating. Plus, no one likes begging — even politicians. It’s an obscene system, but even the most reform-minded pols have to raise - and spend - oodles of cash just to mount a viable campaign. Dollars don’t win elections all by themselves, but they sure do help.
With that in mind, we’re revisiting some of the key House races we profiled in May to see how the candidates are doing on the money front. Here’s a batch of four. We’ll be back tomorrow with more.
- Juan Garcia-Todd Hunter. District 32, Corpus Christi. One of the most closely watched and hotly contested races this season. One of the most expensive, too. Democratic golden boy Garcia added $402,000 to his already-fat war chest between January and July. He has $522,000 on hand. Hunter, an attorney-turned-lawmaker-turned-lobbyist-turned-candidate, pulled in $301,000, with $165,000 still in the bank after spending $191,000 already. Notable — and predictable — Hunter donors include Bob Perry ($5,000); former District 32 Rep. Gene Seaman ($10,000); and UT Regent, Bush Pioneer, and Very Rich Man Robert Rowling ($20,000). Garcia collected $9,020 from San Jacinto Title Company President Brent Bottom and a whopping $75,000 from HEB empresario Charles Butt. Neither candidate should have a cash problem. The question is, can they spend that much cash effectively?
- Diana Maldonado-Bryan Daniel. District 52, Round Rock. These two are fighting over the Williamson County seat vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock). The district is close to evenly split between Ds and Rs. Maldonado is leading the fundraising contest so far. Over the past six months, she’s raised $145,000 to Daniel’s fairly anemic $41,000. Maldonado has $130,000 in the bank; Daniel has about $32,000. Maldonado is certainly feeling the love from Austin’s liberal establishment and education groups. The Education Austin PAC chipped in three Gs while Education Round Rock COPE gave up $2,000. Annie’s List, an organization that raises money for women Democrats, gave her $25,000. Daniel is leaning heavily on business PACs for his money, and they’ve contributed almost $22,000 to his campaign so far, more than 50 percent of total contributions. Dallas radioactive waste titan Harold Simmons has given Daniel $4,000; Bob Perry gave $2,500; and the Tom Craddick-tied Empower Texans has contributed $1,386 of in-kind “voter contact” work.
- Joe Heflin-Isaac Castro. District 85, South Plains. With inexpensive media markets in this sprawling West Texas district, money is probably less of a factor here than elsewhere. On the other hand, a lot of $4 gas is gonna get burned politicking the district’s 15 counties. Republican challenger Castro and Democratic incumbent Heflin are almost evenly matched, with Castro having raised $50,000 to Heflin’s $49,000. Oil and gas money is flowing out of Midland-Odessa to both candidates, but Castro is pulling in the lion’s share. His major donors include loyal Bushie Don Evans ($1,000); Abilene investor Dian Graves Stai ($5,000); and, not surprisingly given the “frivolous” lawsuits pending against Castro, Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC ($17,000). Reflecting his anti-voucher bent, Heflin is pulling down donations from the public school set. ACT for Texas Classroom Teachers Association and the Association of Texas Professional Educators each gave him $2,000. Charles Butt, of HEB fame, ponied up $5,000.
- Joel Redmond-Ken Legler. District 144, Pasadena. Conservative Democrat Redmond is playing hard for this Republican district in Pasadena, whupping Legler on the dialing-for-dollars front. Redmond raised $104,000 over the past six months while Legler, after a brutal primary, managedonly $33,000 between April and July. Legler moves into the next phase with zero in the bank; Redmond has $87,000. In May, Redmond told the Observer he expected to be outspent 2 to 1. But, he extolled the virtues of raising lots of small donations from hundreds of people (as a Baptist preacher he has experience passing the collection plate). True to form, Redmond’s campaign finance report shows that the bulk of his money has come from individuals giving small amounts. Redmond has also garnered financial support from the Teamsters, Pipe Fitters, and Plumbers locals; Democratic Reps. Pete Gallego and Scott Hochberg; and Houston-area attorneys. Legler is counting Benjamins from an array of industry PACs and Bob Perry ($27,500 since late February). Texans for Lawsuit Reform have found it in their hearts — and deep pockets — to give Legler $5,000.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
[…] only $45,000 and has $14,000 on hand.This is the second reporting cycle in which Redmond has done far better than his opponent. In May, Redmond said he expected to be outspent […]