[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Luddite PACs & Candidates: Texas Political Funds that Dodge the Internet   VII. Large Luddite PACs

 

Luddite PACs
(Raising At Least $20,000)

No. of Filers	Non-E-Disclosed Money Raised Jan '01 - July '02
66	$4,041,306

By July 2002, approximately 470 big and small Texas PACs had failed to file electronic disclosures. This study just tracks Luddite PACs that raised at least $20,000 in this period. These 66 PACs already had raised more than $4 million by July 2002, or more than the combined total of money raised by all of the Luddite candidates in this report.

Five large Luddite PACs raised more than $100,000 apiece by July 2002. Four of these top five Luddites were Republican PACs, led by the Texas Republican Party PAC, which raised a whopping $968,993. Altogether, 15 large Luddite Republican PACs raised a total of almost $1.7 million, compared with two large Luddite Democratic PACs that raised $116,548 (led by Congressman Martin’ Frost’s Lone Star Fund “leadership PAC"). The fifth top Luddite PAC was the Texas Consumer Finance Association, members of which make high-interest “signature loans” to the working poor.
 

Luddite Party PACs

Party	No. of Filers	Non-E-Disclosed Money Raised Jan '01 - July '02
Republican	15	$1,672,738
Democrat	2	$116,545
	17	$1,789,283

Other over-represented sectors in the Luddite top 40 include six Construction and five Labor PACs. Leading the Luddite Construction PACs, the Northside Bond Committee raised $67,400 from construction interests for a 2001 initiative to build $495 million in school infrastructure projects. The Harris County AFL-CIO led Luddite labor PACs, raising $92,600 by July 2002.
 

Top-40 Luddite PACs

Name	Interest	Non-E-Disclosed Money Raised Jan '01 - July '02
TX Republican Party	Republican	$968,993
TX Consumer Finance Assn.	Finance	$139,702
Harris Co. GOP-PAC	Republican	$137,500
Harris Co. Republican Party	Republican	$114,066
TX Tea PAC	Republican	$100,435
*Lone Star Fund - TX	Democrat	$93,000
Harris Co. AFL-CIO	Labor	$92,600
Travis Co. Republican Party (CF)	Republican	$86,584
TX Senate Democratic Caucus	Democrat	$82,360
Fort Bend Republican Women's Club	Republican	$81,500
Stratus Committee	Real Estate	$75,000
AFL-CIO State COPE Fund	Labor	$74,822
Houston Police Officers Union	Labor	$74,403
TX & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assn.	Agriculture	$68,204
Northside Bond Committee	Construction	$67,400
Texana PAC II	Real Estate	$67,050
Republican Party of Fort Bend Co.	Republican	$65,508
Voters United To Preserve Flower Mound	Local government	$60,681
Dallas Police Officer's PAC	Labor	$59,873
Hidalgo Co. Republican Party	Republican	$55,440
Halff Associates	Construction	$52,523
Committee For Proposition 16	Title insurers	$51,500
TX Legislative Black Caucus	Minority	$50,250
Bentwood Republican Women	Republican	$47,806
Houston Dock & Marine Council	Labor	$47,230
Travis Co. Republican Party (CEC)	Republican	$46,944
PBS&J PAC	Construction	$46,000
Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers	Agriculture	$44,955
San Antonio Board of Realtors	Realtors	$40,939
Raba-Kistner	Construction	$40,000
Williamson Co. Republican Party	Republican	$39,505
TX Good Roads, Transportation Assn.	Construction	$38,675
Judicial Roundup PAC (San Antonio)	Lawyers to local judges	$38,020
United Republicans of Harris Co.	Republican	$37,627
TX Bipartisan Justice Committee	Business tort interests	$36,505
Justice For All PAC	Death-penalty advocates	$36,500
Licensed Beverage Distributors	Alcohol	$35,250
Democratic Party of Bexar Co.	Democrat	$34,185
Morris Architects Civic Action Fund	Construction	$32,650
TX Orthopaedic Assn.	Health	$31,525

Note: CF = Party Corporation Fund; CEC = County Executive Committee.