News Release

Austin, TX:   Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) has identified the employers, occupations and/or interests of the 115  “Pioneers”  whose identities were released by the Bush campaign yesterday. TPJ also identified the total amount each of these Pioneers contributed to Governor Bush’s 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial campaigns.

The Pioneer list includes a number of Texas’ richest tycoons and big contributors to Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns.  These contributors have had a direct interest in a number of major policy issues before the Bush Administration, including air pollution standards, energy price deregulation and limits on corporate liability.  Several Pioneers are Washington lobbyists, two of which are registered to lobby for a foreign country, India.

  “The Bush campaign should disclose the complete list of Pioneers.  According to the campaign, there are up to 300 more “Pioneers” who haven’t yet hit the $100,000 mark,” said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice.  “The public has a right to know who these highrollers are, their occupations and exactly how much money they have delivered.”

The Pioneer list will be posted at the TPJ website (www.tpj.org) on the morning of July 21, and will be updated as information is gathered.  Texans for Public Justice is a non-partisan research and advocacy organization that tracks the role of money in Texas politics.
 
 
 

See the list of Bush's Pioneers

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