[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Tony Sanchez’s War Chest: Who Gives To A $600 Million Man?   I. Key Findings

• Gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez reported raising almost $32 million from August 2001 through June 2002. Sanchez self-financed 89 percent of this money ($27.9 million) through $10.1 million in contributions and $17.8 million in bank loans that he personally guaranteed.

 
• Sanchez raised almost $3.6 million from donors outside of his own family circle. This external financing accounts for just 11 percent of his total war chest.

 
• Sanchez’s top 25 overall sources of external money contributed more than $1.2 million, or 36 percent of this outside financing. Outside of his own family, Sanchez received contributions of more than $100,000 from three sources. Two of these were Houston plaintiff firms that gave him $200,000 apiece (the Gallagher Law Firm and Jamail & Kolius). The PAC and executives of the Sanchez family’s International Bank of Commerce were the third major source of external donations ($103,774).

 
• When Sanchez’s external money is broken down by industry, Lawyers & Lobbyists are the single largest source, supplying $829,783, or 24 percent of his external funding. Plaintiff attorneys supplied $541,000 (65 percent of this sector’s money), compared with $98,000 from business defense attorneys (12 percent). Another $115,783 (14 percent) came from other attorneys whose specialty was not identified or who did not fit this plaintiff-defense dichotomy.

 
• Houstonians were Sanchez’s largest geographical source of external money, contributing $823,539. Laredo donors came next ($684,153), followed by Dallas contributors ($440,999). Donors in cities near the Mexican border accounted for 33 percent of Sanchez’s outside money.