Travel & Lodging consumed almost a third of Carona’s spending in early 2007, with a single expenditure accounting for almost all of Sen. Carona’s Travel budget. Carona paid Associa, his real estate management company, $61,930 in June. This reimbursement for “session-related travel” covered corporate jet expenses and the costs of renting, maintaining and operating vehicles. This Travel expenditure—the largest one covered in this study—lacks sufficient detail to ascertain if Carona paid his business a fair-market price for these Travel expenses.
Carona spent 19 percent of his campaign funds on Gifts/Charitable Contributions. The $14,397 he spent at coin dealer Southwest Numismatic Corp. is the largest Gifts/Charitable Contributions expenditure covered in this study. Carona reported that he made “Texana purchases” at Southwest Numismatic for charities and auctions and for “committee and colleague gifts”
Carona spent 14 percent of his funds on Food, Drinks & Events. A favorite Carona haunt is Maggiano’s in Dallas. Carona dropped a remarkable $12,263 in early 2007 for six Maggiano’s outings, led by a $5,168 March dinner for precinct chairs that was the senate’s single largest Food expenditure. Carona also picked up the tab for five excursions to III Forks restaurant in Dallas, led by a $4,534 “legislative dinner” in May for Carona’s Transportation Committee.
Campaign-Related Expenditures accounted for 13 percent of Carona’s spending. The $23,977 that he paid Dallas-based McIntosh Co. to raise funds for this massive war chest was the Senate’s largest Campaign-Related Expenditure.
The Senate’s No. 2 spender has a much different profile. Sen. Robert Nichols spent almost $155,000 in early 2007, with an unprecedented 71 percent going to repay the senator’s personal loans to his campaign. Senator Nichols leveraged personal funds to win a four-way GOP primary for an open seat last year. In contrast, the share of money that Nichols spent on his next largest categories—Staff & Consultants (15%) and Office Expenditures (8%)—fell short of the Senate average.
The Senate’s No. 3 spender, Chris Harris, did not face a 2006 election. Sen. Harris spent 25 percent of his campaign money in early 2007 on Gifts/Charitable Contributions—twice the Senate average. Harris spent $8,204 on custom tote bags that he distributed at events in his district. He also spent $11,780 sponsoring fundraising events for local Chambers of Commerce.
Sen. Kirk Watson, the Senate’s No. 7 spender, nosed out John Whitmire as the Senate’s top Democratic spender. Sen. Watson won an open seat in 2006 with no major-party opposition. As an Austin resident, Sen. Watson had no need to pay for an extra residence in the Capital. Watson spent a smaller-than-average share of his funds on Rent Payments, Travel & Lodging and Food, Drinks & Events. Instead, he led the Senate in the share of his campaign funds that he spent on Staff & Consultants (59 percent). Watson’s largest Staff & Consultants expenditure was paying Trademark Media $8,913 for website services. Watson’s largest overall expenditure was the $12,288 he paid the IRS for income earned investing a $1.2 million campaign surplus.
The largest shares of overall senate expenditures went to: Staff & Consultants (18 percent); Gifts/Charitable Contributions (13 percent); Rent Payments (13 percent); Travel & Lodging (13 percent); Administrative/Office Expenditures (11 percent); and Food, Drinks & Events (10 percent). The remainder of this section analyzes the various Senate spending categories.
As discussed above, Sen. Kirk Watson led the senate in the share of his funds spent on Staff & Consultants (59 percent). Sen. Glenn Hegar followed Watson (48 percent), led by the $10,000 that he paid the consulting firm Todd Smith & Associates.
Sen. Mike Jackson, who did not face a 2006 election, spent the largest share of money on Rent Payments (36 percent). Sen. Jackson (who spent a relatively modest total of $49,100) paid $15,666 in early 2007 for an Austin residence. In absolute terms, however, Sen. Jackson ranked No. 2 among the 16 senators who tapped political funds for what appear to be Austin residences. Sen. Estes paid two Austin landlords a total of $24,501 in the first half of 2007 for “lodging expenses.” Two-thirds of the senators making payments to Austin landlords did not face a 2006 election.
Sen. Troy Fraser spent the biggest share by far of political funds on Travel & Lodging (64 percent). His highest-flying expenditures were $26,444 to flight-services company Abilene Aero and $15,212 to Horseshoe Bay Airport. Fraser also paid $4,905 to Toyota Financial Services. His biggest hotel bill was $769 to Puerto Rico’s beachfront El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door Spa for a June meeting of the Council of State Governments. En route, Fraser booked a $335 stay at the Intercontinental San Juan Resort & Casino. Sen. Rodney Ellis paid Delta Airlines $2,491 to fly to Ghana as an observer of the Assembly of the African Union and for the opening of the African Diaspora Center.15
The $20,309 lease payment that Sen. Jeff Wentworth made to Lexus Financial Services was the largest single vehicle expenditure reported. Sen. Rodney Ellis paid $6,768 to GMAC to rent a Cadillac Escalade.
Sen. Bob Deuell paid the Senate’s largest—and most-ironic—hotel bill. Deuell reported a $2,053 stay at Washington’s Omni Shoreham for the National Medicaid Congress, which presumably was convened to discuss healthcare for the poor.
Sen. Glenn Hegar spent a third of his money on Administrative/Office expenditures, leading the senate in this category. Hegar paid $2,350 for furniture and a total of $2,799 for “framed art.” The Senate’s single largest Administrative/Office expenditure was the $4,333 that Sen. Kyle Janek paid Apple Online. Janek spent a total of $14,937 on Apple computer gadgetry. Other major expenditures in this category include the $4,150 that Sen. Wentworth spent on “Senate calendars and envelopes” and the $2,957 that Sen. Robert Nichols spent at Jacksonville’s Davis Carpets.
Sen. Kevin Eltife spent 30 percent of his funds on Gifts/Charitable Contributions. Eltife’s largest expenditure for Gifts/Charitable Contributions was a $1,013 reimbursement to himself for undisclosed “gifts for senators.” Sen. Eltife’s single largest expenditure overall was the $2,520 he paid at the end of the session for a dinner “for all senators” at Austin’s Moonshine.
Senators Bob Deuell and Jeff Wentworth each spent more than a quarter of their funds on Gifts/Charitable Contributions. Deuell’s single largest expenditure was the $3,825 he reported paying for “Senate calendars.” He also donated $3,500 to the Music Cares Foundation and bought a $1,751 gift at Paradise Pen for an unspecified committee chair. Sen. Wentworth’s largest Gifts/Charitable Contributions were a $5,000 donation to the Alamo Heights School Foundation and $3,860 spent on “rodeo tickets for scholarships.”
None of this compares to the $14,397 that Sen. Carona paid a coin dealer for Gifts/Charitable Contributions or the $10,000 that Sen. Kyle Janek contributed to the Memorial Hermann Foundation, which was raising money for medical helicopters.
Sen. Rodney Ellis spent 15 percent of his funds on Campaign-Related Expenditures, the largest share that any senator spent in this category. The $10,440 that Ellis paid Campaign Strategies, Inc. to design and mail his New Year’s cards was this senator’s largest single Campaign-Related Expenditure. The senate’s single largest Campaign-Related Expenditure was the $23,977 that Sen. Carona spent on fundraising. Sen. Royce West came next, paying Opinion Analysts $7,500 for a survey.
Food, Drinks & Events accounted for an impressive one-third of the $114,031 that Sen. John Whitmire spent—a greater share than any other senator spent on this amenity. Sen. Whitmire’s campaign might as well operate out of a skybox. It paid the Houston Texans $10,985 for “constituent entertainment” and another $8,360 to the Houston Rockets. The fan club is mutual. In recent years the Whitmire campaign collected $13,000 from Texans owner Bob McNair and $12,000 from Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. Go team.
Sen. Whitmire’s top restaurant expenditure was $3,275 for a dinner for senators at Austin’s Moonshine on May 25, 2007. Sen. Eltife reported spending $2,520 on dinner for “all senators” at the same restaurant six days later. That’s a lot of moonshine. The senate’s single largest food expenditure was Sen. Carona’s $5,168 one-night stand at Maggiano’s.
The senate’s largest Miscellaneous Expenditures were interest income payments to the IRS, led by a $27,000 “estimated tax payment” by Sen. Whitmire (who reported a $3.2 million campaign surplus at the end of 2006). Posh Senator, Troy Fraser, made the Senate’s largest non-tax Miscellaneous Expenditure. He dropped $3,652 at the Texas Clothier.
As discussed above, big-spending Sen. Robert Nichols dominated senate spending on Unspecified Loans. The $110,000 he spent on loans accounted for 71 percent of his cash flow. Only two other senators reported Unspecified Loans. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh paid a $2,271 credit-card finance charge. Sen. Royce West paid $1,007 in loan repayments to legislative aide Susie Ramirez.
Senators John Carona and Mario Gallegos each recycled 12 percent of their political expenditures by contributing them to other political committees. Gallegos contributed $5,000 to Carol Alvarado and $2,000 to Melissa Noriega, both of whom won Houston City Council races. Sen. Carona contributed $11,103 to Rep. Bill Keffer and $10,000 to the Dallas County Republican Party. Political Contributions accounted for 11 percent of all expenditures by Senators Kevin Eltife, Steve Ogden and Florence Shapiro. Sen. Eltife contributed $1,000 apiece to GOP presidential candidate John McCain and Smith County Judge Joel Baker.16 Sen. Ogden also gave McCain $1,000 and contributed $2,500 more to the Williamson County Republican Party. Sen. Shapiro contributed $5,000 to the Republican Jewish Coalition and $3,960 to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Sen. Chris Harris led the Senate in the share of political expenditures classified as Unknown (5 percent). In the largest of these, Sen. Harris reimbursed aide Joan Holland a total of $6,500 for unspecified “office expenses.” Sen. Kirk Watson similarly paid unspecified “reimbursements” of $2,986 to aide Sarah Chanslor. Sen. Carlos Uresti reimbursed aides Norman Garza and Roberto Maldonado a total of $2,235. Sen. Royce West reimbursed himself $1,290 for God knows what.
None of the reported expenditures met this category for Senators.
13The 16 senators elected in 2006 spent an average of $83,609 apiece, compared to an average expenditure of $84,550 for the 15 senators who did not face an election that year.
14 In another difference, “Unspecified Loans” accounted for 8 percent of the spending by the class of 2006 but a negligible share of spending by the class of 2004. Sen. Robert Nichols—who leveraged personal loans to win a four-way GOP primary for an open senate seat last year—accounted for 97 percent of all senate spending in this category.
15“Millions spent after campaigns,” San Antonio Express-News, July 31, 2007.
16Baker made the news the hard way in October—by accidentally shooting himself in the thigh.
