Texans for Public Justice has filed a complaint with current Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle alleging that Tom Craddick has or attempted to bribe legislators.
According to Quorum Report the, "question has always been whether or not the PAC violated the Speaker Statute that says either contributing or withholding a campaign contribution based on support or opposition to a Speaker candidate was legislative bribery. The eleventh hour activation of the PAC as well as Craddick's seed money participation takes the questions another step."
The PAC in questions is the Texas Jobs PAC. The PAC has been financed with $250,000 of Tom Craddick's money and the PAC's President and CEO is Republican operative Jim Cardle.
There have already been two stories surround the Texas Job PAC and Craddick D's Kevin Bailey (who accepted money from the PAC) and Dawnna Dukes (who is pledged to Craddick but did not take his bribe).
Democratic State Rep. Dawnna Dukes considers her ties with Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick so sensitive that she turned down a $50,000 contribution from a political action committee tied to Craddick.
But Houston Democrat Kevin Bailey didn't.
Both were among a group of Democrats whose support for Craddick last year helped quell a Republican rebellion that sought to oust him from the speaker's post.
Both face opponents who charge that their ties with the conservative Craddick go against the interests of their low-income, heavily Democratic districts.
Brian Thompson commented on the Texas Jobs PAC last week and the possible quid pro quo saying:
"This sounds like Rep. Dukes is acknowledging that $50,000 was linked to a vote for Speaker of the Texas House," said Brian Thompson, the Democratic candidate who is challenging Dukes in HD 46. "Our ethics laws do not look too favorably on a $50,000 quid pro quo."
We will keep our eyes on this story as it develops. The full complaint can be found here.
Last night, KVUE News in Austin ran a story exposing the fact that Dawnna Dukes's largest donors are the same Republican moneymen who funded the insulting and offensive 'Swift Boat' ads attacking the honorable military service of John Kerry. Why would they do this? To keep Tom Craddick in power of course.
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?
Today the Texas Supreme Court takes up an issue that goes to the heart of what it means to be a Texan: Are we accountable for the consequences of our behavior? Lord John Browne, former CEO of British Petroleum and his special interest peers say no. They argue that they are above the law-literally.
Specifically, the Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine whether the former CEO of BP must travel from London, England to Austin, Texas to give a deposition to lawyers representing the families of those injured in the March 2005 explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas-- an explosion that killed 15 workers and seriously injured more than 170.
"When you go to work, you should get to come home in one piece," said Becky Moeller, president of the Texas AFL-CIO. "Are we as a state going to require that corporations take responsibility for getting workers to their homes and families safely? Or will we stand by as the Supreme Court continues to erect shields protecting corporate leaders from that accountability?"
Lord Browne argues that he should not have to answer questions about the decisions he made that contributed to the tragic deaths of 15 Texas workers and the injuries of hundreds more in the explosion at Texas City. But this is about much more than whether one man will have to answer a few questions. It's about accountability and responsibility.
"The decisions made by corporate CEO's in board rooms all around the world threaten the safety of communities right here in Texas," said Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch. "Children on their way to school, families who breathe our air and drink our water, and small business owners who serve the plant and its workers all face a greater danger when CEOs are allowed to avoid accountability for the decisions they make."
And it's about the Texas Supreme Court receiving millions of dollars from special interests it then swaddles in blankets of immunity from civil prosecution for the harm they do to Texas workers and families. When wrongdoers are not held accountable, public safety and security is threatened.
Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, said that more than 175 corporations and CEOs have joined BP to fight against corporate accountability. "On any given day this court is teeming with conflicts of interest, but perhaps none greater than in the BP case. A review of the justices' campaign records shows they have taken $2 million from interests are that are arguing for BP," McDonald said.
Glenn Smith, Director of the Texas Progress Council (a group I contract with) and frequent writer here at BOR, sums the conflict up by saying:
"Glib sound bites and special-interest double-talk about our judicial system can no longer hide the agenda of some irresponsible corporate interests," said Glenn Smith, director of the Texas Progress Council. "That agenda is nothing less than the goal of permanent immunity from civil prosecution for negligent and willful practices that maim and kill."
Texas AFL-CIO President, Becky Moeller highlights the direct legal impact in an interview at Corporate Crime Report.
"Our regulatory system has failed," Moeller said. "Because of a long-standing budgetary starvation diet and warped priorities, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will do a preventive inspection of a Texas workplace on the order of once every 100 years unless a complaint is filed."
Texas has no state OSHA to pick up the slack.
"When someone dies, OSHA shows up and may impose fines that are for practical purposes regarded as a cost of doing business," Moeller said. "In the case of the BP explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board issued an objective report that took BP's management to task. But it was the civil justice system that invoked the most serious consequences for BP and laid bare the cold calculations BP made in trading worker safety for short-term profit."
Today we will see whether justice is blind or for sale to the highest bidder. Texas Progress Council has put together this video to tell the story for the ones that can't.
It’s all about the Children. Seriously. It is all about how the Republican majority continues to screw over our children and teachers in order to give corporations the tax cuts they don’t need.
In the name of economic development, some Texas school districts are using a 2001 law to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to big business. The comptroller estimates that this lost tax revenue will cost the state's public education fund $500 million by 2010-11.
School districts are using the program to circumvent Robin Hood, the state policy that works to provide equity for public school financing by redistributing dollars from rich to poor school districts. Districts receive kickbacks of up to 50 percent of the businesses' savings. These kickbacks, sometimes worth millions of dollars, are not subject to Robin Hood.
Texans for Public Justice has the first of a two part series, “Watch Your Assetts”.
Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) has released a startling "Lobby Watch".
TXU and its suitors spent up to $17 million in lobbying expenditures during the recent legislative session. An 83-person-strong lobby force roamed the capitol halls on behalf of the utility to successfully fight off rate-rollbacks and oversight. The $17 million spree does not include political contributions or money spent on public relations consultants.
The total $17 million had a breakdown of $11 million and paid propaganda (media), $6 million in paid lobbying, and around $200,000 in gifts. I wonder if using that $17 million to decrease Texans soaring electricity costs would have been a better investment.
In the wake of rumors that John Cornyn will be appointed as Attorney General, Cornyn announced his finance team.
The 2008 re-election campaign will be head by ultra-conservative, anti-tax at all cost, John Nau. Nau is currently the director of the Texas Historic Commission (who has a bill on the floor this week that is holding parks hostage). Nau is also a director of the Leininger funded Texas Public Policy Foundation.
In other words, he makes Grover Norquist look rational. Ok, that's not possible, but you get the point.
Speaking of Norquist, TPJ points out that Nau and Norquist helped DeLay launch the K Street project. Good choice Cornyn. Good. Choice.
Major finance co-chairs include Bob Rowling in Dallas, Kit Moncrief in Ft. Worth, John Schweitzer in Austin, Ned Holmes in Houston, John Steen in San Antonio, Herb Wade in Central Texas, Bill Harley, Gaylord Hughey and Whit Riter in East Texas, Sam Susser on the Gulf Coast, Granger MacDonald in the Hill Country, Clyde Seibman in North Texas, Four Price in the Panhandle, Nick Serafy in South Texas, and Robert Brown in El Paso.
We will obviously look into the rest of these individuals, but the old saying is, "the character of a man can be determined by the quality of the friends he keeps."
Leininger, DeLay, Norquist, Nau, Bush, Gonzales... out of touch? Yes.
We have removed the Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) report because of questions pertaining to how the report was done. TPJ has amended the report twice since our post went up. Both times, newly elected Democrats like Paula Hightower Pierson, Valinda Bolton, Ellen Cohen, and Juan Garica were proven to have done nothing wrong.
The purpose of the study is admirable, to track extravagant travel by elected officials paid for by lobbyist, the primary methodology used is too faulty for us to keep the study on our main page. Sadly, the data collected appears to have been sloppy at best.
While controversy surrounds the study, some facts are irrefutable. Rep. Mike Krusee is at fault.
Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Williamson County, a "lobby favorite." Krusee, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, took nine lobby-funded trips in the period reviewed, 2005 and 2006 through the eve of the November elections, the report said.
For instance, J. McCartt, a lobbyist whose clients include contractor Fluor Corp. and PBS&J, an engineering firm, flew Krusee to Las Vegas to deliver the keynote address at a PBS&J toll summit after the 2005 regular legislative session.
Krusee's office issued a statement Tuesday stating that he "learns from other parts of the country and innovative industries about how to get traffic moving, how to improve safety and how to build roads in cost-effective ways."
Training from groups like EMILY's List and Annie's List is not the same as PBS&J flying Krusee to Vegas or James Leininger taking Rick Perry to the Caribbean.
The devil is in the details. Only six months ago the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) ruled that Employee Retirement System (ERS) Board Member and Lobbyist Bill Ceverha was within his legal rights to declare he had received “checks” on his personal disclosure form.
After pressure from Democratic Leaders, the details were given out. Ceverha had accepted $100,000 from Republican mega-donor and homebuilder Bob Perry after Ceverha had served as treasurer of the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee.
Today, the TEC was faced with a decision to allow elected officials to simply write the word “cash”, “gift”, or “check” and not be required to write the full value down.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said, "Its kind of like reporting you just received a wheelbarrow without having to mention it is filled with cash. Legally speaking, that's absurd."
At the hearing Earle, along with 19 House Democrats, and Craig McDonald, the Executive Director of the non-partisan Texans for Public Justice all submitted testimony stating the law is clear and the only way to describe a monetary gift is to put its value.
Two commissioners, Nicholas Taylor and Tom Harrison agreed.
“It would be an absurd result for the Commission to say that gift does not include value,” Harrison said.
Taylor followed up saying, “The only way to describe money is to write the value, we cannot put down, ‘three green pieces of paper’ and expect that to fulfill the spirit of the law.”
Two Commissioners disagreed with the legislature and their colleagues-- Commissioner Ross Fischer and Vice- Chair Raymond “Tripp” Davenport.
At one point in the hearing, Davenport referred to District Attorney Earle and his letter of concern as no more important than a second year law student throwing a piece of paper at him.
The Commission eventually tabled the motion until after the election. Sadly, because of the indefensible actions of certain members, the Commission abdicated its responsibility to enforce meaningful discloser until after the election.
