March 14, 2002

Voters Love Candidates
That Free PAC Hates

 

Republican primary voters made love instead of war on Tuesday to every candidate that an extremist group opposed for purportedly being too tolerant of euthanasia, abortion and gays.

The Free Enterprise PAC reported spending $110,296 to oppose six Republican legislators, whom it denounced in mailings that contained sensationalist photos depicting such things as Dr. Kevorkian or two men kissing.

 

Free PAC Opposition Spending

Opposed Candidate	Amount	Dist.	Result
Jeff Wentworth	$31,581	S25	Won
Kip Averitt	$31,256	S22	Won
Bill Ratliff	$25,240	S1	Won
Tommy Merritt	$8,398	H7	Won
Brian McCall	$7,020	H66	Won
Ed Kuempel	$6,801	H44	Won
TOTAL:	$110,296

 

Free PAC chair Richard Ford said a week before the primaries that people were upset by his mailings because they were effective. "Somebody is reading the polls, and the mailings are making an impact or they wouldn’t give us the time of day," he told the Austin American-Statesman.

After the polls closed it became clear that, if Free PAC’s hate mailings had an impact, it was not the intended one.

Free PAC spent more money to oppose candidates ($110,296) than it did to support them ($92,432). Its opposition expenditures targeted incumbents while its campaign contributions aided candidates seeking open seats or challenging incumbents (Free PAC’s sole incumbent, Rep. Betty Brown, faced no primary challenge).

Although it spent less money supporting candidates than it did opposing them, Free PAC had more success with the 20 candidates it supported than with the six winning candidates whom it trashed.

 

Free PAC-Backed Candidates

Result	No. of Candidates	Percent	Free PAC Spending
Run Off	7	35%	$31,000
Won	7	35%	$26,000
Lost	6	30%	$35,432
Total:	20	100%	$92,432

 

Seven Free PAC candidates won their GOP primaries (one ran unopposed) and seven more of them will proceed to a run off next month.

Yet GOP primary voters rejected six other Free PAC candidates, including the one who received the most Free PAC money (Senate candidate Karen Lundelius, whom upwardly mobile Rep. Kim Brimer defeated).

With all of Free PAC’s hateful attacks boomeranging, Texas politicians might be better advised to outdo each other in their tolerance of homosexuals and anyone who confronts tough choices about abortion and euthanasia. •

 

Free PAC Expenditures For Candidates

Candidate	Amount	District	Status	Result
Karen Lundelius	$20,000	S10	O	Lost
Ken Paxton	$15,000	H70	O	Run off
Scott Campbell	$5,000	H72	O	Won
Tom Butler	$5,000	H128	O	Run off
Charles Luke	$5,000	H60	C	Lost
Corbin Van Arsdale	$5,000	H130	O	Won
Dan Flynn	$5,000	H2	O	Won
Larry Taylor	$5,000	H24	O	Won
Jerry Yost	$3,846	S1	C	Lost
*Ed Harrison	$2,976	S22	O	Lost
Bill Keffer	$2,500	H107	O	Run off
Dan Gattis	$2,500	H20	O	Run off
Dwayne Bohac	$2,500	H138	O	Won
Jeff VanFleet	$2,500	H15	O	Lost
Jodie Laubenberg	$2,500	H89	O	Run off
Willliam Zedler	$2,500	H96	O	Won
Mark Cole	$2,500	H134	O	Run off
*Curt Hinshaw	$1,110	H7	C	Lost
Walt Fair	$1,000	H56	O	Run off
Betty Brown	$1,000	H4	I	Won
Total:	$92,432

 

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