Mortgaged House Campaign Contributions to Texas Representatives, 1995-1996 By Lynn Tran and Andrew Wheat Public Citizen’s Texas Office Texans for Public Justice U.S. PIRG Education Fund © Copyright Texans for Public Justice, January 1998 Copies of this report are available from its sponsors: Public Citizen’s Texas Office 1800 Rio Grande Austin, TX 78701 (512) 477-1155 -or- Texans for Public Justice 609 W. 18th St., Suite E Austin, TX 78701 (512) 472-9770
[email protected] www.onr.com/tpj -or- U.S. PIRG Education Fund 218 D St., S.E. Washington, DC 20003 (202) 546-9707 Report funding provided by the Margaret Cullinan Wray Charitable Trust. Mortgaged House Campaign Contributions to Texas Representatives, 1995-1996 I. Summary .................................................................. 1 II. Introduction & Method ..........................................… 2 III. Findings ................................................................... 4 (A) Alien Contributors…………... 5 (B) Taking Care of Business…… 7 (C) Heavy Hitters………………… 9 (D) Endowed Chairs…………….. 10 (E) Weighty War Chests……….. 12 (F) Well Funded Minority………. 13 (G) Costly No-Contest Races….. 14 (H) Money Matters………………. 16 (I) High-Flying PACs…………... 19 (J) High-Flying Individuals…….. 21 IV. Recommendations ...............................…………… 23 V. Appendix ............................................................... 26 A Full House: Each Member’s Contributions Data VI. Acknowledgements ……………………………….… 30 I. Summary • Members of the Texas House filled their campaign war chests with $14,627,357 from July 1, 1995 through year-end 1996. • House members raised a staggering 80 percent ($10,047,340) of their $100-or-larger contributions from sources outside the home district.* Rep. Senfronia Thompson raised 100 percent of her contributions outside her district. Four other members went out of district for 99 percent of the value of their contributions of $100 or more.