Texas PACS: A Roundup of the Special Interests
Driving Texas' Political Action Committees
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Communications & Electronics
Twenty-nine
communications and electronics PACs spent $2.2 million (4 percent of PAC
spending); 13 telecommunications PACs dominated.
With billions of consumer dollars up for grabs, the telecommunications industry has a huge stake in state regulatory issues. Southwestern Bell’s PAC, the 7th largest PAC in Texas, overshadowed this category, spending $841,078. Southwestern Bell (SWB), the nation’s largest provider of local phone service, has waged a pitched political and legal battle to break into the long distance phone market.5
| Communications & Electronics | Expenditures | % of Total | PAC # |
| Telecommunications | $1,614,492 | 73% | 13 |
| Computers | $528,380 | 24% | 10 |
| Media/Entertainment | $67,760 | 3% | 6 |
| Total | $2,210,632 | 100% | 29 |
Many telecommunications PAC expenditures sought to influence regulatory rules that determine who gets what share of these markets. In long distance markets, companies are competing aggressively—if not illegally. In September 1998, the Texas Public Utility Commission slapped a $300,000 “slamming” fine on AT&T for enlisting customers without their permission. With increasing deregulation, traditional phone companies (represented by the Texas Telephone Association) are expected to compete with broadcasting, satellite and cable companies to provide a range of data services. The Texas Cable and Telecommunications Association, led these emerging competitors, spending $10,350. The largest PAC affiliated with a single cable company, Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), spent $8,805. In mid-1998, AT&T announced that it would swallow up this cable company.
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of special interest Slamming the Lege Evidence of the telecommunications industry’s clout surfaced recently in conjunction with a legislative proposal to cap the amount of fees that phone companies pay cities to string wires through public right of ways. After a special legislative committee held hearings on this issue for a year, it issued a final report that mirrors—often verbatim—a report that the committee received earlier from lobbyists for phone companies including Southwestern Bell, AT&T and GTE. Committee co-chair Rep. Bill Carter, R-Fort Worth (who owns between $28,000 and $140,000 in telecommunications stock) chalked up the similarities to “coincidence.” Fellow co-chair, Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, blamed his staff and invoked Casablanca’s “shocked-shocked-shocked” defense, saying he was “surprised” and “disgusted” to learn of the similarities between the documents. Industry lobbyists did not express shock. A Southwestern Bell representative noted that, “It’s not unusual” for legislators to cadge legislation “verbatim” from lobbyists. An AT&T representative added, “It’s what, frankly, every industry attempts to do.”6 |
Computers
In Texas, where high-tech workers first surpassed oil and gas workers in
1996, political spending by the computer industry is likely to grow. In
the period studied, however, computer PACs accounted for less than 1 percent
of all Texas PAC expenditures. Three computer hardware companies, led by
Texas Instruments ($182,404), dominated this subcategory.
| Total | PAC/Sponsor | Subcategory |
| $841,078 | Southwestern Bell | Telecom |
| $342,967 | AT&T | Telecom |
| $264,763 | GTE (2 PACs) | Telecom |
| $182,404 | Texas Instruments | Computers |
| $148,447 | E-Systems (3 PACs) | Computers |
| $136,380 | Compaq Computer Corp. | Computers |
| $45,250 | Electronic Data Systems (EDS) | Computers |
| $29,025 | First Amendment Coalition | Media/Entertainment |
| $29,010 | Sprint PAC | Telecom |
| $28,033 | Texas Telephone Assoc. | Telecom |
| $27,675 | MCI | Telecom |
| $26,850 | Texas Payphone Assoc. | Telecom |
| $15,550 | LDDS Communications, Inc. | Telecom |
| $14,100 | TX Assoc. of Long Distance Telephone Co's | Telecom |
| $13,392 | TX Statewide Telephone Cooperative | Telecom |
| $10,350 | TX Cable & Telecommunications Assoc. | Media/Entertainment |
| $10,300 | West Publishing | Media/Entertainment |
| $9,600 | Tandy Corp. | Computers |
| $8,805 | TCI | Media/Entertainment |
| $8,630 | Outdoor PAC | Media/Entertainment |
Government software contracts are one highly politicized computer niche, which ballooned in Texas when the state announced plans to privatize $2 billion worth of welfare services in 1995. PACs associated with two bidders for this business spent $50,250. EDS out spent its competitor, Lockheed Martin Information Management Systems, accounting for 90 percent of these PAC expenditures.
In unrelated spending, three PACs affiliated with E-Systems spent $148,447. Apart from its military electronic intelligence systems, E-Systems provides mass computer storage systems and mass-transit tracking and communications systems. Government contracts account for much of this business.
Media/Entertainment
Three media and entertainment PACs made large expenditures. The First Amendment
Coalition of Texas’ FACT PAC spent $29,025 on behalf of the pornography
industry. Minnesota-based West Publishing, which publishes legal documents,
spent $10,300. Finally, the Outdoor PAC spent $8,630 to defend First Amendment
rights—at least as they apply to billboard advertisers.
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