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Business PACs Up Close
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Lawyer & Lobbyist PACs
The 47 PACs in the Lawyers and Lobbyists
category turned in the greatest spending growth. This sector accounted
for $6.5 million in 1998 cycle PAC expenditures, up 43 percent over the
previous cycle. Across-the-board spending increases by the biggest legal
eagles drove this heady growth. The most-recent election cycle boasted
14 legal PACs that spent more than $100,000. With one exception, each of
these PACs ratcheted up spending from 1996 to 1998.2
The leading legal PACs dramatically boosted their spending in 1998 over the previous cycle. The biggest legal PACs were Vinson & Elkins ($1.2 million), the Texas Trial Lawyers Association ($957,485) and Fulbright & Jaworski ($773,446).
A dozen of the top 14 Legal PACs represent corporate defense interests, which have been heavy funders of state attorney general and Supreme Court races. The two large PACs that represent plaintiff trial lawyer interests are the Texas Trial Lawyers and a newcomer. The Constitutional Defense Fund ($141,250) obtained its funds from the five lawyers who litigated the state’s $17.3 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry. These lawyers have been battling politicians who have sought to stop payment on the $3.3 billion in fees that these lawyers were awarded for the case.
Construction PACs
The construction industry showed the next
largest increase in PAC spending. The $2.9 million spent by 68 Construction
PACs in the 1998 cycle marked a 32 percent increase over the previous cycle.
The industry’s three biggest PAC spenders accounted for more than 70 percent
of this growth.
The leading construction PAC—operated by the Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA)—spent $456,800, a startling 220 percent increase over what it spent in the previous cycle. In the 1998 session, TMHA unsuccessfully sought legislation (HB 1193) to limit the ability of cities to regulate or restrict prefabricated home construction.3 The next largest construction PACs, the Texas Aggregates & Concrete Association ($264,988) and the Associated General Contractors of Texas ($201,300) each increased their spending by 63 percent or more.
Also notable was the S&B Engineers PAC which increased its spending 125 percent to $127,200. In early 1999, Governor Bush, who received $10,500 from S&B’s PAC for his gubernatorial races, appointed the company’s infrastructure president, Raul Romero, to the University of Texas Board of Regents.
Energy & Natural Resources PACs
The 75 PACs in the Energy and Natural
Resources sector spent $5.2 million in the 1998 cycle and were the last
sector to clear 15 percent growth.
Eight PACs in this sector spent more than $150,000 apiece. Six of the eight top Energy PACs had direct stakes in some of the most important issues of the 1998 legislative session, including proposals to:
The other towering Energy PAC interest is the powerful Bass family, which defended its diversified oil-based interests with almost $1 million in expenditures through four PACs. Three of these PACs are classified in the Energy sector: The Good Government Fund ($465,550), the Texas Progress Fund ($104,000) and the PSEL PAC ($355,750). (The latter PAC takes its name from the first letters of the names of Bass brothers Perry, Sid, Ed and Lee.) A fourth PAC serving Bass family interests is K PAC ($58,104). It is operated by the family’s law firm, Kelly, Hart & Hallman, and is classified with Lawyer PACs.
Just three Business PAC categories spent less money in the 1998 cycle than they did in the previous cycle. In each of these sectors, Health, Transportation and Miscellaneous Business, this drop in spending amounted to a cut of 7 percent or less.
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