The $2,468,186 spent by the 10 tycoon families went to five Republican-leaning independent PACs, the Republican Party and to candidates for statewide office. Ninety-eight percent of the money to statewide office seekers benefited Republican candidates.
“This is a prime example of how a few powerful individuals can wield too much influence through campaign money,” said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice. “This distorts the principle of one person, one vote. These millionaires would not be able to gain this kind of leverage if Texas imposed campaign contribution limits like those found in the federal election system.”
TLR was the state’s highest spending independent PAC in the 1996 election cycle. TLR lobbies for anti-consumer restrictions on the Texas civil justice code, which would benefit TLR’s tycoon contributors.
Each of the 10 TLR donor families gave $100,000 or more in the current campaign cycle to various PACs and statewide candidates. Together, these 10 donors contributed $331,000 to TLR, or 63 percent of the $523,000 that TLR had spent in this election cycle as of early October. TLR gave 83 percent of this money to Republican candidates. In hotly contested races for open seats in the legislature, Republican candidates reaped 99 percent of TLR’s money.
The 10 tycoons contributed an additional $476,100 to four other independent PACs: the A+ PAC, the Associated Republicans of Texas, Eight in `98 and the Free Enterprise PAC. Each of these large PACs provide almost exclusive support to Republican candidates.
The 10 TLR top dogs also contributed $1,434,586 to candidates for statewide office, all but $21,500 of which benefited Republicans. Finally, the 10 tycoons gave $226,500 to the PAC of the Texas Republican Party.
“TLR President Dick Weekley’s claim that he runs a bi-partisan
reform group representing average Texans is hog wash,” said McDonald. “TLR
represents Republican tycoons who are seeking to buy legislative favors
at the expense of average consumers in Texas.”
| Family of: | Interests | TLR | Other PACs1 | Party PACs2 | Statewides3 | Total | |
| Louis Beecherl* | Beecherl Investments | $11,000 | $28,500 | $30,000 | $149,000 | $213,500 | |
| Gordon Cainº | Sterling Chemicals | $20,000 | $50,000 | $ - | $133,000 | $203,000 | |
| Harlan Crow* | Trammell Crow | $25,000 | $ 500 | $6,000 | $92,450 | $123,950 | |
| Kenneth Layº | Enron | $25,000 | $5,000 | $3,000 | $139,000 | $172,000 | |
| James Leininger† | Kinetic Concepts | $50,000 | $177,100 | $176,500 | $311,136 | $714,736 | |
| James Lightner* | Electrospace Systems | $25,000 | $25,000 | $1,000 | $57,000 | $108,000 | |
| William McMinnº | Sterling Chemicals | $50,000 | $177,000 | $ - | $312,000 | $539,000 | |
| Robert McNairº | Cogen Technologies | $25,000 | $ - | $5,000 | $130,000 | $160,000 | |
| David Underwood º | Lovett Underwood Neuhaus | $25,000 | $13,000 | $5,000 | $59,000 | $102,000 | |
| Richard Weekleyº | David Weekley Homes | $75,000 | $ - | $ - | $52,000 | $127,000 | |
| Total: | $331,000 | $476,100 | $226,500 | $1,434,586 | $2,468,186 |