Texas PACS: A Roundup of the Special Interests
Driving Texas' Political Action Committees
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Energy & Natural Resources
Accounting
for 11 percent of all PAC expenditures, 79 energy and natural resource
PACs spent more than $6 million from 1995 through 1997. Texas is a world
capital of the oil and gas industry; 44 PACs affiliated with this industry
accounted for 54 percent of energy and natural resources PAC expenditures.
The best example of what such money can buy is the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), a captured agency that is ostensibly charged with regulating the oil and gas industry. Railroad Commissioners, however,
| Resourceful PACs | Expenditures '95-'97 | % of Total | PAC # |
| Oil & Gas | $3,266,697 | 54% | 44 |
| Utilities | $1,972,765 | 33% | 18 |
| Petrochemicals | $564,709 | 9% | 9 |
| Waste Management | $174,444 | 3% | 6 |
| Mining | $26,925 | - | 2 |
| Total | $6,005,540 | 100% | 79 |
take more money for their expensive political campaigns from this industry than any other source. Commissioners even take money from energy companies that have regulatory disputes pending before the commission.8
Just eight PACs associated with five interests accounted for 68 percent of all oil and gas expenditures. Towering over these interests were three PACs representing the diversified oil fortune of the Bass family in Fort Worth ($838,701).9 Enron, the Houston-based natural gas giant, spent almost $600,000. Coastal Corp., Valero Energy and Enserch each spent more than $200,000.
Utilities
Eighteen energy utility PACs spent almost $2 million, accounting for one-third
of energy and natural resources spending. Ten PACs affiliated with just
three major power utilities (Houston Industries, Texas Utilities and Central
& Southwest Corp.) accounted for 83 percent of all utility PAC spending.
The next largest utility PACs were Rural Friends of Texas Electric Cooperatives
($84,948), Southwestern Public Service Company’s SCOPE PAC ($74,725) and
two Southern Union Gas PACs ($61,336).
| Total | PAC/Sponsor | Subcategory |
| $838,701 | Bass Family (3 PACs) | Oil & Gas |
| $719,166 | Houston Industries (2 PACs) | Electric Utility |
| $598,362 | Enron Corp. | Oil & Gas |
| $573,041 | Texas Utilities (3 PACs) | Electric Utility |
| $269,532 | Coastal Corp. | Oil & Gas |
| $207,615 | Valero Energy (PG&E Corp. subs.) | Oil & Gas |
| $205,022 | Enserch Corp. (TX Utilities subs.) | Oil & Gas |
| $198,508 | DuPont | Petrochemicals |
| $120,103 | Dow Chemical | Petrochemicals |
| $111,900 | Diamond Shamrock | Oil & Gas |
| $110,750 | Central Power & Light (Central & SW subs.) | Electric Utility |
| $108,700 | Central & South West Corp. | Electric Utility |
| $107,593 | Betz Laboratories (BetzDearborn) | Petrochemicals |
| $94,258 | Texas Oil Marketers Assoc. | Oil & Gas |
| $84,948 | Rural Friends of Texas Electric Cooperatives | Electric Utility |
| $81,764 | Entex (Houston Industries subs.) | Electric Utility |
| $81,077 | Browning Ferris Industries (2 PACs) | Waste Management |
| $75,590 | TX Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Assoc. | Oil & Gas |
| $74,725 | Southwestern Public Service Co. (SCOPE) | Electric Utility |
| $73,700 | Texas Chemical Council Assoc. | Petrochemicals |
The hottest issue for electric utilities was the 1997 legislative debate over whether to deregulate electricity markets (the Texas Legislature deregulated wholesale electricity in 1995). The Houston Chronicle found that six influential members of the two legislative committees studying deregulation in 1997 took $41,000 from PACs and executives of companies expecting to be affected by the legislation. Deregulation opponents—led by the top utility PACs above—accounted for 71 percent of this money, outspending such deregulation supporters as Enron, Destec Energy and Cogen Technologies.10
The bigger-spending utilities carried the day in 1997, though the issue will be revisited in 1999. One sticking point is whether consumers should bail out Texas Utilities and Houston Industries for misguided investments in costly nuclear power plants, which cannot compete in deregulated markets.
Petrochemicals
Nine petrochemical PACs account for 9 percent of all energy and natural
resources spending. Just three PACs spent 75 percent of petrochemcial spending:
DuPont ($198,508), Dow Chemical Co. ($120,103) and Betz Laboratories ($107,593).11
In recent years, these three companies have dumped 107 million pounds of
toxic chemicals and 31 million pounds of “grandfathered” air pollution
into Texas’ environment. Under the Texas Clean Air Act’s “grandfather”
loophole, filthy old industrial plants may operate without modern pollution
controls.12
Waste Management
Six waste management PACs accounted for three percent of energy and
natural resources spending. Three companies affiliated with four waste
PACs accounted for 95 percent of this spending. Two Browning Ferris Industries
PACs led with $81,077. Next came the $55,600 spent by a PAC affiliated
with OHM Corp., which cleans up hazardous and radioactive sites. Finally,
a Waste Management subsidiary, Wheelabrator Technologies, is the world’s
largest waste incinerator. A PAC affiliated with this company spent $31,247.
Mining
Last and least, two mining PACs spent $26,925. The Aluminum Company of
America (ALCOA) spent $22,075. The North American Coal Corp. spent $4,850.
ALCOA is another major Texas polluter, spewing almost 3 million pounds
of toxic pollutants and 218 million pounds of grandfathered air pollution
into the state’s environment in recent years.
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of special interest Politically Wired Enron Executives and a PAC affiliated with America’s largest natural gas company contribute heavily to politicians at the local, state, federal and even international level. The extent of Enron’s political connections were best seen in 1993, when former President Bush—having recently vacated the White House for the Clintons—traveled to Kuwait to receive Gulf War honors. Accompanying him were his son Neil, former Secretary of State James Baker and General Thomas Kelly, who was Gulf War operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After the ceremonies, the former president went home, while these members of his entourage stayed on to lobby the Kuwaitis for billions of dollars worth of power plant contracts sought by Enron. In contrast, Gulf War Commander H. Norman Schwartzkopf turned down millions of dollars worth of offers to seek Kuwaiti contracts on behalf of U.S. corporations, saying he did not want to cheapen the sacrifices made by his soldiers in the war.13 Similarly, a top Argentine official complained that George W. Bush pressured him to give Enron a gas pipeline project worth millions of dollars several years earlier, when then Vice President Bush was campaigning for the presidency. Spokespeople for George W. Bush denied that he exerted such pressure.14 Enron’s political connections reach beyond the Bush Administration. Texas Senator Phil Gramm’s wife, Wendy Gramm, joined Enron’s board after finishing her term as chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (during her tenure, the commission deregulated energy futures markets, a policy sought by Enron). For their part, top Clinton Administration officials—including National Security Advisor Anthony Lake—leaned on the world’s poorest country in 1995, threatening to reduce U.S. aid to Mozambique if it did not award Enron a major natural gas contract.15 Soon thereafter, new state officials in Maharashtra, India canceled and then renegotiated at a hefty discount a $2.8 billion Enron power plant deal that they said was arranged by corrupt predecessors.16 In Texas, Enron’s PAC and executives were the top corporate contributors to members of the Texas Supreme Court during a recent period in which that court handed down three Enron decisions. Railroad Commissioner Carole Keeton Rylander took $5,000 from Enron lobbyist Emil PeÁa in 1995, the day after she voted to exempt the company from state rules governing oil well spacing requirements.17 Aside from the PAC’s contributions, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay has been a major funder of George Bush the elder and the younger, the Associated Republicans of Texas and Texans for Lawsuit Reform. |
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