Flying Business Class:

October 25, 2006

Corporations Gave $900,000
To State Parties in 2006 Cycle

• GOP Bags 73 Percent

• Eight Bipartisan Behemoths Fund Both Sides

Exploiting a loophole in Texas’ prohibition on corporate contributions, corporations gave Texas’ two major parties almost $900,000 this election cycle—before the window for these donations shut 60 days before the general election. The Texas Republican Party received 73 percent of this money; the state Democratic Party took the rest. County party PACs reported another $463,731 in corporate money by the end of June, with 79 percent benefiting the GOP.

To purchase influence with both major parties, eight bipartisan behemoths contributed corporate money to both state party committees. These companies have benefited recently from handouts of taxpayer money or generous legislation.

Corporate Contributions
To State Party PACs
(Jan. 2005 Through Sept. 2006)

AT&T—which shepherded a sweetheart bill through the 2005 legislature—led the pack, investing almost $200,000 of its prodigious profits in the two parties. AT&T was the top corporate donor to both the Republican and Democratic parties alike (Sprint also gave the two parties a total of $2,500).

 

Bipartisan Corporate Contributors

Corporate Contributor	Amount to TX Republican Party	Amount to TX Democratic Party
AT&T	$145,000	$52,379
Anheuser-Busch Co’s.	$36,000	$31,500
TXU Energy	$15,000	$10,000
Lockheed Martin Corp.	$5,000	$10,000
Boeing	$6,000	$5,000
TX Hospital Association	$5,000	$5,000
CenterPoint Energy, Inc.	$5,000	$4,000
Sprint	$1,000	$1,500

 

Alcohol sin-tax opponent Anheuser-Busch also partied heavily with both parties ($67,500). Energy giants TXU and CenterPoint, which have made obscene profits from consumers under Texas’ flawed deregulation of electricity, gave a combined total of $34,000 to the two parties). TXU is leading the charge to build more outdated, dirty coal plants across the state.

Governor Rick Perry gave Lockheed Martin ($15,000 to the two parties) $7.5 million in Texas Enterprise Fund taxpayer money last month to help it develop a successor to the NASA space shuttle.

Boeing ($11,000 to the two parties) rejected a $45 million offer from Texas Enterprise Fund but one of its suppliers, Vought Aircraft, got $35 million of these tax handouts.

Finally, members of the Texas Hospital Association ($10,000 to the two parties), are top beneficiaries of new legal limits on the damages paid to medical malpractice victims.

Although Texas law generally prohibits corporate or labor union contributions, PACs can use these funds to pay administrative overhead costs. Political parties also can use corporate or union money to pay their primary and convention costs. Yet corporations and unions are prohibited from contributing to political parties during the 60 days preceding a general election.

Top Corporate Donors
To the TX Republican Party
(Jan. 2005 Through Sept. 2006)

Amount	PAC	Location
$145,000	AT&T	Austin
$50,000	Argonaut Mgmt. Service	San Antonio
$50,000	Dow Chemical Corp.	Midland, MI
$40,000	Verizon	Phila., PA
$30,000	Burlington N. Santa Fe	Fort Worth
$25,000	Contran Corp.	Dallas
$25,000	Lattimore Materials	McKinney
$25,000	Stewart & Stevenson	Houston
$15,000	Clayton Williams Energy	Midland
$15,000	Phoenix Management	Austin
$15,000	TXU Energy	Dallas
$12,500	Margaret Moss, PC	Fort Worth
$11,730	Marriott Rivercenter	San Antonio
$10,000	Advanced Micro Devices	Sunnyvale, CA
$10,000	Altria Corp.	New York, NY
$10,000	Pilgrim's Pride Corp.	Pittsburg
$8,025	TX Rep. Party Fed’l Acct.	Austin
$7,500	CCAdvertising	Oak Hill, VA
$6,000	Boeing	Arlington, VA
$5,000	Care Inn Properties, Inc.	San Antonio
$5,000	CenterPoint Energy, Inc.	Houston
$5,000	Lockheed Martin Corp.	Fort Worth
$5,000	Mansefeldt Invest. Corp.	Abilene
$5,000	McGraw Hill Co’s	Highstown, NJ
$5,000	San Antonio Steel Co.	San Antonio
$5,000	Sanofi Aventis US, LLC	Bridgewater, NJ
$5,000	Scooter Store	New Braunfels
$5,000	TX Hospital Association	Austin

 

Other Republican Party PACs
With Corporate Contributors
(Jan. 2005 Through June 2006)

Top Corporate Donors
To the TX Democratic Party
(Jan. 2005 Through Sept. 2006)

The Texas Democratic Party has some of the same leading corporate contributors as does the state Republican Party. The chief difference is that fewer corporations contributed to the Democrats and those that did generally gave them less. In contrast, labor unions are significant donors to the Democrats but not to the Republicans.

Microsoft is the largest corporate donor to the Democrats that did not also give to the Republicans. Yet Microsoft made in-kind contributions of software. Could Windows software be a Trojan gift that ultimately benefits the Democrats' opponents?

Other Democratic Party PACs
With Corporate Contributors
(Jan. 2005 Through June 2006)

 

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