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

 

Top 25 Overall Sources of Sanchez Contributions

Employer	Interest Code	City	Amount
Gallagher Law Firm	Lawyers	Houston	$200,000
Jamail & Kolius	Lawyers	Houston	$200,000
*International Bank Of Commerce	Banks	Laredo	$103,774
*Zix Corp.	Computers	Dallas	$75,000
White Rock Capital	Finance	Dallas	$70,000
Armadillo Construction Co.	Construction	Laredo	$50,000
Hicks Muse Tate & Furst	Finance	Dallas	$50,000
Myers Financial Group	Real Estate	Dallas	$50,000
Nick Kralj	Lobbyist	Austin	$50,000
Q Funding, LP	Finance	Fort Worth	$40,000
La Paloma, Ltd.	???	Laredo	$35,000
American General Land Development	Construction	Houston	$30,000
Flournoy Production/Drilling Co.	Energy	Alice	$25,000
Hall Financial Group, Inc.	Real Estate	Frisco	$25,000
J. Santiago Gutierrez	Health	Laredo	$25,000
*Sanchez O'Brien Oil & Gas	Energy	Houston	$25,000
Schechter Mcelwee & Shaffer	Lawyers	Houston	$25,000
TX Automobile Dealers Assoc.	Transportation	Austin	$25,000
Andrews & Kurth	Lawyers	Houston	$20,000
Landow Companies	Real Estate	Bethesda MD	$20,000
Madison Financial	Banks	Dallas	$19,004
Vinson & Elkins	Lawyers	Houston	$18,000
Freeman & Castillon	Lawyers	Laredo	$17,500
Gillman Companies	Transportation	Houston	$16,000
Maund Automotive Group	Transportation	Austin	$16,000
		TOTAL:	$1,230,278

*Sanchez business interest.
Note: Table includes money from affiliated PACs and employees.

The top 25 overall sources of Sanchez’s campaign money (counting contributions by affiliated PAC and executives of these businesses) kicked in $1.2 million, or 36 percent of all the external money that Sanchez raised. Topping the list are two major plaintiff law firms, followed by two of Sanchez’s own businesses interests: the International Bank of Commerce and the Internet security firm Zix Corp. As illustrated by the list of Sanchez’s top individual donors on the next page, all or most of the money from many of the donor sources listed above comes from a single company executive. The 32 top individual donors on the next page delivered $991,236, or 29 percent of Sanchez’s external money.

The lists of Sanchez’s top overall and top individual donors each include three auto dealer interests. Auto dealers were angered in 2001 when Perry vetoed their two priority bills in his so-called Father’s Day Massacre.¹³  Both bills, HB 1994 and HB 2139, merited vetoes. The Consumers Union testified that the bills, authorizing dealers to increase vehicle documentation fees and to assess unregulated debt-insurance policies on car loans, would gouge consumers. Prior to the vetoes, Perry received $463,841 from auto dealers; afterwards he received $124,900. In contrast, Sanchez received no auto-dealer money prior to the vetoes but received $120,500 afterwards.¹⁴  The principal donors who defected from Perry to the Sanchez camp were the powerful Texas Automobile Dealers Association and Austin’s Maund Automotive.
 
 
 

Top 32 Individual Sanchez Donors

Donor	Company	Amount
Joseph D. Jamail	Jamail & Kolius (law)	$200,000
David P. Cook	*Zix Corp. (software)	$75,000
Joseph Barton	White Rock Capital	$50,000
Robert Gutierrez	Armadillo Construction Co.	$50,000
Thomas O. Hicks	Hicks Muse Tate & Furst	$50,000
Nicholas Kralj	Nick Kralj (lobbyist)	$50,000
Mike A. Myers	Myers Financial Group (real estate)	$50,000
Charles S. Leyendecker	American General Land Development	$30,000
Lucien Flournoy	Flournoy Production Co. (oil)	$25,000
J. Santiago Gutierrez	Self (Healthcare Alliance of Laredo)	$25,000
Craig Hall	Hall Financial Group, Inc.	$25,000
Dennis Nixon	*International Bank of Commerce	$25,000
Brian O'Brien	*Sanchez O'Brien Oil & Gas	$25,000
Renato Ramirez	*International Bank of Commerce	$25,000
Arthur Louis Schechter	Schechter Mcelwee & Shaffer (law)	$25,000
Arthur & Ellen Temple	Exeter Investment Co.	$22,089
Thomas U. Barton	White Rock Capital	$20,000
Dillon Ferguson	Andrews & Kurth (law)	$20,000
Nathan Landow	Landow Companies (real estate)	$20,000
Gerald J. Ford	Madison Financial (bank)	$19,004
Ramsey H. Gillman	Gillman Companies (auto)	$16,000
Barry Gerard Andrews	Miller of Dallas, Inc. (beer)	$15,000
Adelfa & William Callejo	Callejo & Callejo (law)	$15,000
R. David Guerra	*International Bank Of Commerce	$15,000
Richard E. Haynes	Richard E. Haynes Properties	$15,000
William H. White	Wedge Group, Inc. (oil)	$15,000
Patrick Farrell	Farco Mining	$12,500
Geoffrey Raynor	Q Funding, LP (finance)	$12,500
Gary J. Fernandes	Electronic Data Systems	$11,143
Roger K. Beasley	Roger Beasley Automotive Group	$11,000
Irving Greenblum	Muebleria Mexico (furniture)	$11,000
Doug Maund	Maund Automotive Group	$11,000
	TOTAL:	$991,236

*Sanchez business interest.

Sanchez’s No. 2 individual donor is David Cook, one of Sanzhez’s principal business associates. Sanchez was an early investor in a Cook venture that analyzed oil data and in Cook’s Blockbuster Video brainchild (now owned by Viacom). More recently, Cook founded the predecessor to Zix Corp., an Internet security firm struggling to survive the bursting of the high-tech bubble.¹⁵  Zix stock has plunged from $73 to $5 a share, hammering big investors like the Teachers Retirement System of Texas and Sanchez, who sits on the company’s board.¹⁶