Texas PACS: A Roundup of the Special Interests Driving Texas' Political Action Committees

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Introduction

Political Action Committees (PACs) play a huge role in shaping politics in Texas. Texas imposes no limits on how much money an individual or unincorporated business can contribute to a PAC or how much a PAC can contribute to a state political candidate.¹ A study analyzing the $14.6 million that Texas House members raised in the 1996 election cycle found that 62 percent of this money came from PACs and businesses rather than individual Texans.²

Texas PACs can either be:

• Sponsored by and affiliated with an organization (usually a corporation, business association, labor union or political party); or
• Formed by two or more individuals independent of any organization.

Affiliated PACs raise money from members, employees and—in the case of corporations—from stockholders, managers and their families. Corporations themselves are prohibited from making direct campaign contributions to political candidates in Texas. They are, however, allowed to pay the administrative costs of their affiliated PACs. In this way, corporations sidestep the Texas prohibition on corporate political giving. Non-corporate businesses such as law partnerships can contribute unlimited amounts directly.

The 974 active “general-purpose” PACs studied in this report spent $56 million over the three-year period from 1995 through 1997. The financial and political muscle of these PACs varies enormously. The 36 PACs that spent more than $300,000 apiece accounted for half of the money spent by all PACs.

This report reveals that most Texas PAC money comes from PACs that represent narrow corporate and business interests. Even the largest of the so-called “independent” PACs, which do not affiliate directly with a corporation, get most of their money from a small number of wealthy business tycoons. With few exceptions, broad-based citizen PACs that are sponsored by the likes of labor unions, environmental organizations or consumer groups are not major patrons of state politicians.

Some individuals believe that PACs, in and of themselves, are responsible for the scandals that plague our state and federal campaign finance systems. The real problem, however, stems from the financial dependence of so many politicians on a few powerful economic interests, regardless of whether this money is channeled through PACs, individual contributions or other conduits. Allowing citizens to pool their resources for political action is the essence of democracy. In the absence of reasonable limits on campaign contributions, however, a few extremely wealthy donors drown out the majority. Until the Texas Legislature imposes firm contribution limits, corporate interests will continue to rule the day.

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