ustxtxb_obs_2001_01_19_50_00024-00000_000.pdf

Bill Hollowell at the Capitol THE BACK PAGE m Bill Hollowell for President …Of the Texas Ethics Commission 0 n December 28, as the Texas Senate was conducting its vote for Lieutenant Governor, the Observer missed a phone call from General Bill Hollowell, the former state Representative who challenged Gilmer Rep. Bob Glaze in last fall’s election. We returned his call, later that afternoon, with some trepidation. We surmised that Hollowell might have been unhappy with an article about his \(unsucsubsequent recount request, which appeared in our Dec. 8 issue. As was reported then, Hollowell, who opposes campaign contributions over $100, ran his campaign almost entirely on his own dimeexcept for some $43,000 that Free PAC, a conservative organization funded by far right fat cats like James Leininger and Jim Lightner, spent on his behalf. We reached Hollowell on the first try. Imagine our surprise \(and indeed, disFree PAC expenditure to light and announced, “I’m going to pay that Free PAC money, all of it, out of my own personal funds. I’ve got some figures here from the Ethics Commission and I want to make sure they jibe with your figures.” He had not known about the Free PAC expenditures, he said, until a friend in Tyler called to tell him about our article. “I had heard that a couple of these people were doing something on my behalf, but I didn’t know what, I didn’t know the amount, and I didn’t know they were going to send these things out,” said Hollowell, referring to the three direct mail pieces put out by Free PAC. continued on page 77 For more Observing, visit the Texas Observer website at www.texasobserver.org