Pay to Play Politics and Buying Politicians Texas Style

by: Libby Shaw

Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 04:55 PM CST

It is nice to know some states have lawmakers who have an ethical spine where such blatant corruption and beyond the pale pay-to-play politics are concerned.  Too bad Texas is sorely lacking in this area.  But one has to remember the Party that is running the state at this time, although not all Democratic politicians would receive A's in ethics and integrity departments either.

When the Blagojevich scandal broke, several of the cable TV talking heads and pundits appeared especially outraged by pay-to-play politics and so I promptly sent off an email to MSNBC and CNN and suggested that if they are so livid about pay-to-play, they ought to send their research staff down to Texas to see how it works in a state where purchasing elections and pay-to-play is business du jour.  Apparently other folks from around the U.S. contacted the media with the same request.   Chris Matthews of Hardball responded with a chart that listed the most offending states.  Texas is among them.  

Dawnna Dukes Takes Tens of Thousand of Dollars from "Swift Boat" Republicans

by: Matt Glazer

Fri Jan 18, 2008 at 10:54 AM CST

According to the KVUE News report (a must watch video), "The latest campaign finance reports show Craddick supporters are happy to help Dukes."

In the KVUE piece, Andrew Wheat of the non-partisan good-government group Texans for Public Justice elaborates:

Again, and again, and again, you see the very same people who are giving to Tom Craddick are giving to Dawnna Dukes.

"Again, and again, and again, you see the very same people who are giving to Tom Craddick are giving to Dawnna Dukes," said Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, an organization that studies the influence of money in politics.

Democratic primary voters in House District 46 need to know that Rep. Dukes is being funded by the same Republican moneymen who funded the 'Swift Boat' campaign and continue to give millions of dollars to the Republican Party of Texas, Tom Craddick, and Rick Perry.

According to documents filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, some of Rep. Dukes's largest contributors include the following Republicans and corporate interests:

• Bob Perry - The largest Republican donor in Texas, who contributed more than $4,000,000 to the Swift Boat attack ads
• Harold Simmons - The largest importer of nuclear waste in Texas who also gave more than $3,000,000 to the Swift Boat attack ads
• Hillco - A Republican lobby shop and PAC closely allied with Speaker Craddick.  According to this report from TPJ, Hillco was a conduit for Bob Perry money making its way to Craddick D's.
• Bill Miller - A lobbyist who has served on Speaker Craddick's transition team and acted as Speaker Craddick's spokesperson during the previous Speaker's race.
• John Nau - A Perry appointee who joined the Governor, voucher proponent Jim Leininger, and right-wing ideologue Grover Norquist, on Governor Perry's infamous yachting trip to the Bahamas - has given hundreds of thousands to Republican politicians and causes.

By her own admission, some of Rep. Dukes's largest donors are Republicans who gave more than $7 million to fund the disgusting Swift Boat attack ads against John Kerry.  If she will take money from these Republican moneymen, are there any Republicans Dawnna Dukes won't take money from?

Brian Thompson has been endorsed by the Texas Progressive Alliance and we encourage you to fight the Republican money by donating today and volunteering your time.