Texas PACS: 2006

As discussed above, the Ideological and Single Issue category ballooned to account for 37 percent of all 2006 PAC spending. Although Labor and Business PACs also increased their expenditures significantly, these sectors did not approach the 108 percent increase of Ideological PACs.

Interest Category	No. of Active 2006 PACs	2006 PAC Spending	Share of ‘06 Spending	’04-‘06 Change
Agriculture	30	$2,084,858	2%	69%
Communications	17	$2,411,297	2%	19%
Computers & Electronics	6	$546,948	<1%	17%
Construction	78	$5,632,354	6%	22%
Energy/Nat’l Resources	57	$7,422,147	8%	34%
Finance	41	$4,902,570	5%	55%
Health	54	$6,700,991	7%	19%
Ideological/Single Issue	522	$37,003,201	37%	108%
Insurance	26	$2,101,473	2%	23%
Labor	100	$5,116,613	5%	13%
Lawyers & Lobbyists	48	$12,207,989	12%	6%
Miscellaneous Business	61	$4,162,216	4%	71%
Real Estate	40	$6,180,524	6%	29%
Transportation	27	$2,400,946	2%	-10%
Other & Unknown	25	$293,511	<1%
TOTALS:	1,132	$99,167,646	100%	42%

PAC	2006 Spending	2006 Rank	2004 Spending	2004 Rank	’04-‘06 Change
Texans For Lawsuit Reform	$4,224,428	1	$3,105,386	1	36%
TX Republican Leg. Campaign Committee	$2,726,907	3			NA
Republican Party of TX	$2,604,523	4	$1,927,676	3	35%
TX Democratic Trust	$2,256,378	6			NA
TX Democratic Party	$1,553,206	9	$1,922,185	4	-19%
Associated Republicans of TX	$1,472,061	10	$1,688,087	7	-13%
Harris Co. Republican Party	$1,397,049	11			NA
Annie's List	$1,098,083	13	$454,177	30	142%
Stars Over TX	$1,085,121	14	$956,675	12	13%
House Democratic Campaign Committee	$1,051,894	15	$366,512	36	187%
Future of TX Alliance	$655,655	26			NA
Dallas Co. Democratic PAC	$641,775	27			NA
Dallas Co. Republican Party	$616,554	28			NA
TX Federation of Republican Women	$523,562	36	$347,460	40	51%
TX Parent PAC	$492,799	38			NA
Friends of Phil Gramm	$473,039	39	$514,274	23	-8%
TX Values in Action Coalition	$467,473	41			NA
TX Opportunity PAC	$395,419	48			NA
Republican Party of Fort Bend Co.	$393,306	49			NA
Travis Co. Democratic Party	$375,270	53	$156,987	98	139%
TX Progress Council	$340,138	62			NA
TX 2020 PAC	$337,892	64	$80,553	172	319%
Friends of The University	$326,921	67	$330,247	42	-1%
Texans for School Choice	$211,757	98			NA
Houston PAC	$207,212	99			NA
Campaign For Republican Leadership	$201,585	104	$26,297	357	667%

After Ideological PACs, the Miscellaneous Business sector grew the fastest, increasing its spending 71 percent from 2004 to 2006 (nonetheless this sector accounted for just 4 percent of all 2006 PAC spending). Republic Beverage’s BG Distribution Partners was one of Texas’ fastest-growth PACs, more than quintupling its spending from 2004 to in excess of $1 million. Meanwhile the Licensed Beverage Distributors PAC more than doubled its spending, clearing $300,000. In 2006 the wholesale liquor industry made a large play (HB 2266) to repeal rules that force bars and restaurants to buy hooch from package liquor stores. Package stores retaliated by urging the legislature to allow liquor manufacturers to sell directly to package stores—thereby bypassing the wholesalers (HB 2525). Hung up—or over—by such a wicked mix of drinks, lawmakers never uncorked either bill from the House Licensing Committee.

The top-spending sectors after Ideological and Single-Issue PACs were four business PAC categories: Lawyers & Lobbyists (accounting for 12 percent of 2006 PAC spending), Energy & Natural Resources (8 percent), Health (7 percent) and Real Estate (6 percent).

Lawyers & Lobbyists

Lawyers & Lobbyists, the biggest Business PAC sector, accounted for 12 percent of all 2006 PAC spending ($12 million), despite that fact that this sector expanded by a comparatively modest 6 percent from 2004 to 2006. The trial-lawyer financed Texans for Insurance Reform PAC led this sector, spending $2 million. Most of the top recipients of this PAC’s funds were Democratic House candidates. Corpus Christi trial lawyer Mikal Watts, who plans to challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn next year, runs the Good Government PAC, which doubled its spending to $931,233. Meanwhile the Texas Trial Lawyer Association cut its PAC spending in half to $833,547.

PAC	2006 Spending	2006 Rank	2004 Spending	2004 Rank	’04-‘06 Change
Texans for Insurance Reform	$2,015,611	7	$1,911,888	6	5%
HillCo PAC	$1,010,227	18	$705,343	15	43%
Good Government PAC	$931,233	19	$465,915	26	100%
Vinson & Elkins	$918,700	21	$970,289	11	-5%
Texas Trial Lawyers Assn.	$883,547	22	$1,665,284	8	-47%
Texas Assn. of Mortgage Attorneys	$794,263	23	$647,500	17	23%
Fulbright & Jaworski	$718,666	24	$805,250	13	-11%
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld	$587,827	29	$461,951	28	27%
Andrews & Kurth	$528,250	35	$516,813	22	2%
Baker Botts	$471,772	40	$435,167	31	8%
Winstead, Sechrest & Minick	$458,133	43	$310,950	47	47%
Bracewell & Giuliani	$425,796	44	$483,421	25	-12%
Hughes & Luce	$396,643	47	$312,098	45	27%
Haynes & Boone	$330,045	65	$238,950	63	38%
Jackson Walker	$280,781	73	$250,622	60	12%
Gardere Wynne Sewell	$248,375	84	$261,524	56	-5%
Thompson & Knight	$228,500	90	$129,250	117	77%
Brown McCarroll	$140,850	151	$168,100	89	-16%
Texas Assn. of Defense Counsel	$112,250	179	$69,037	196	63%
Jenkens & Gilchrist	$107,900	185	$99,820	141	8%

HillCo Partners lobby firm’s PAC cleared $1 million in expenditures, getting more of its money from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry than any other source. The Texas Association of Mortgage Attorneys, a major backer of House Speaker Tom Craddick, increased its PAC spending significantly to $794,263. Led by Vinson & Elkins and Fulbright & Jaworski, corporate law firms accounted for most of the remaining top Lawyers & Lobbyists PACs.

Energy & Natural Resources

Energy & Natural Resources PACs spent $7.4 million—up 34 percent from 2004. Awash in profits, the oil and gas industry pumped up its PAC spending, led by Valero Refining, which boosted its spending significantly to $2.3 million. After Valero came Texas Oil & Gas PAC, ConocoPhillips and the Bass family PACs: the Good Government Fund and PSEL PAC. Several oil and petrochemical PACs also made the list of the fastest-growing PACs. These include ExxonMobil (which quintupled its spending), Lyondell and ConocoPhillips.

PAC	2006 Spending	2006 Rank	2004 Spending	2004 Rank	’04-‘06 Change
Valero Refining & Marketing PAC	$2,347,879	5	$1,607,132	9	46%
CenterPoint Energy, Inc.	$402,694	45	$488,886	24	-18%
Reliant Energy, Inc.	$356,111	56	$361,574	38	-2%
TX Oil & Gas PAC	$354,000	58	$311,500	46	14%
TX Employee PAC of TXU Corp.	$296,385	71	$349,935	39	-15%
American Electric Power	$286,619	72	$111,300	129	158%
Lyondell Petrochemical Co.	$275,918	74	$59,624	215	363%
ConocoPhillips SPIRIT PAC	$220,580	93	$61,780	206	257%
Electric Delivery PAC of TXU Corp.	$217,103	94	$209,358	70	4%
Power & Energy PAC of TXU Corp.	$182,619	114	$230,418	65	-21%
Employees of Dow Chemical Co.	$173,689	118	$78,411	179	122%
Good Government Fund	$170,250	120	$147,920	105	15%
PSEL PAC	$167,500	122	$110,000	133	52%
Occidental Petroleum Corp.	$163,683	127	$127,759	120	28%
Rural Friends of TX Electric Co-ops	$159,050	131	$108,400	135	47%
El Paso Corp.	$156,682	135	$35,416	295	342%
Mirant Corp.	$135,402	158	$3,719	624	3,541%
Atmos Energy Corp.	$121,356	171	$30,478	325	298%
Halliburton Energy Services	$107,240	188	$129,075	118	-17%
Exxon Mobil Corp.	$106,000	192	$17,000	414	524%

Electricity PACs formed this sector’s other bastion of power. Yet the top electricity PACs generally eased their spending from 2004 to 2006. CenterPoint, Reliant and three TXU PACs ($696,107 combined) all reduced spending in 2006.⁵ Atlanta-based electric wholesaler Mirant Corp., on the other hand, topped the accompanying list of the fastest-growing PACs, increasing its PAC spending from less than $4,000 in 2004 to $135,402. Other power PACs that doubled or tripled their PAC spending were: El Paso Corp., Atmos Energy and American Electric Power.

Health PACs

Led by the Texas Medical Association (TMA), Health PACs ranked No. 3 among Business PACs. Yet this sector’s overall spending increase of 19 percent fell short of that of the Business category as a whole. Spending by TMA, the Texas Optometric PAC, the Texas Dental Association and the Texas Hospital Association declined since the 2004 cycle, when this industry spent heavily to cap its legal liability in medical malpractice cases. The newly formed Texas Border PAC led 2006 growth in this sector. Harvesting $6,000 apiece from dozens of physicians along the Texas-Mexico border, this PAC made its largest contributions to Governor Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst (approximately $50,000 apiece). Two leading medical-specialty PACs—the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists and the Texas Opthalmological Association—also increased spending by approximately 20 percent apiece.

PAC	2006 Cycle Spending	2006 PAC Rank	2004 Cycle Spending	2004 PAC Rank	‘04-’06 Spending Change
TX Medical Assn.	$1,896,648	8	$1,919,026	5	-1%
Border Health PAC	$667,787	25			NA
TX Optometric PAC	$576,721	32	$598,844	18	-4%
TX Dental Assn.	$367,009	54	$593,590	19	-38%
TX Society of Anesthesiologists	$216,283	96	$181,095	80	19%
TX Opthalmological Assn.	$212,069	97	$175,763	85	21%
TX Hospital Assn.	$206,733	100	$239,932	62	-14%

Real Estate PACs

Real estate PACs increased spending 29 percent to $6.2 million. The Texas Association of Realtors and its affiliated Issues Mobilization PAC accounted for two-thirds of this spending, with the Issues PAC increasing its expenditures by more than 600 percent since 2004. The Issues Mobilization PAC made its largest expenditures on media buys and on payments to HillCo Partners lobby firm. It paid $50,000 to Texans for Taxpayer Relief, a business group running ads supporting the school-finance plan proposed by Governor Perry’s Texas Tax Reform Commission (a proposal that did not seek to tax real estate transactions). The PAC also gave $20,000 to It’s About Time Corpus Christi, a business group that sought to ban vehicles from driving on part of the beach on North Padre Island.

PAC	2006 Cycle Spending	2006 PAC Rank	2004 Cycle Spending	2004 PAC Rank	’04-‘06 Spending Change
TX Assn. of Realtors	$3,334,075	2	$2,967,081	2	12%
TX Assn. of Realtors Issues Mobilization	$929,600	20		115	609%
TX Apartment Assn. PAC	$382,732	52	$324,000	43	18%
Houston Apartment Assn	$230,660	88	$268,608	54	-14%
Houston Realty Breakfast Club	$185,073	111		127	54%
Apartment Assn. of Greater Dallas	$170,347	119		126	42%
Apartment Assn. of Tarrant Co.	$103,506	197	$154,452	99	-33%

5 When the money spent by the three TXU PACs listed here is combined with the $94,577 spent by the smaller TXU Corporate PAC, TXU's four affiliated PACs spent a grand total of $790,684 in the 2006 cycle. For more on TXU PACs, see “TXU’s Patronage Grid Plugs All But Seven Lawmakers,” TPJ’s Lobby Watch, March 1, 2007.