PIRG: Mortgaged House: High-Flying Individuals: The Biggest Patrons of House Candidates

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Mortgaged House

J. High-Flying Individuals: The Biggest Patrons of House Candidates

Texas Legislative Service data on contributions of $1,000 or more reveal that business interests also are well represented in the ranks of the 20 individuals who made at least $10,000 worth of large-denomination contributions to House candidates.

Three of these high rollers, for example, come from an industry that derives a significant part of its fortune from government contracts. James D. Pitcock, Jr., is CEO of William Brothers Construction. Charles Joekel heads Pacesetters Personnel Service, a firm that provides contract laborers to construction sites. Jack Albert is president of the General Contractors of Texas.

$10,000 Club: The House’s Top 20 Patrons

Name	Amount	Recipient	Interests
Randall Riley	$130,000	Self (R)	Heads Citizens life insurance; lost GOP primary.
Don Henley	$47,500	Dems	Rock musician; environmentalist.
James Leininger	$42,863	Repubs	Owns Kinetic Concepts, hi-tech hospital bed co.
R. & G. Johnson	$34,500	Bipartisan	Lobbyists with up to $500,000 in ’97 contracts.
James Pitcock, Jr.	$25,500	Dems	Heads William Bros. Construction Co.
Charles Joekel	$20,000	Bipartisan	Owns Pacesetters Personnel Service.
Bradley Bryan	$19,500	Bipartisan	Lobbyist with up to $525,000 in ’97 contracts.
Russell Kelley	$17,500	Bipartisan	Lobbyist with up to $385,000 in ’97 contracts.
Jack Roberts	$17,000	Bipartisan	Lobbyist with up to $495,000 in ’97 contracts.
Patrick Keel	$15,500	Keel (R)	Baker & Botts lawyer; brother of Rep. Keel.
Louis Beecherl, Jr	$15,000	Repubs	Former U.T. regent chair; oil & gas fortune.
Daniel Gustafson	$14,000	Self (D)	Ranching fortune; lost primary to Rep. Greenberg.
Ben Harrison	$11,200	Harrison (D)	Gave to son Brooks, who lost to Rep. Talton.
Jack Albert	$10,600	Dems	General Contractors of Texas president.
William McMinn	$10,308	Repubs	Board of Sterling Group, chemical firm raiders.
Robert T. Hayes	$10,000	Bipartisan	Directs Texans for Fair Play rental car group.
Philip A. Rhodes	$10,000	Rhodes (D)	Gave to son Alec; owned Martinez Office Supply.
Kenneth Bigham	$10,000	Bipartisan	Waste Control Specialists president.
Dolph Briscoe, Jr.	$10,000	Laney (D)	Diversified ranching heir; former governor.
Joe E. Garcia	$10,000	Dems	Lobbyist with up to $75,000 in ’97 contracts.
Total	$480,971

Powerful Austin lobbyists also make a strong showing in the $10,000 Club. These include:

Robert and Gordon Johnson of “Johnson & Johnson,” the top clients of which are tobacco giants Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, Concerned Builders of Texas and the Atlas Bonding company;
Bradley Bryan, whose biggest client is oil company Coastal Corp., followed by the Independent Electrical Contractors, the Texas Towing & Storage Association, the National Council on Compensation Insurance and eight mutual insurance companies.
Partners Russell Kelley and Jack Roberts, whose top clients are the Texas Association of Public and Non-profit Hospitals and Owens Corning, which paid Roberts up to $100,000 to help the company dodge asbestos suits filed by non-Texans in Texas courts;
Smaller-time lobbyist Joe Garcia, whose big client is the City of McAllen, followed by smaller contracts with GTE, TREND Gaming Systems, the Association of Electric Companies and the Texas Conference for Homeowners’ Rights.

Though not a registered lobbyist, Waste Control Specialists President Kenneth Bigham has a particularly tough bill of goods to sell to Texas politicians. Waste Control, owned by corporate raider Harold Simmons, has been seeking a permit to bury nuclear waste in west Texas’ Andrews County.

Many other top individual donors acted to advance the political careers of themselves or a close relative. The biggest individual spender, Citizens life insurance CEO Randall Riley, spent $130,000 of his own money in a failed quest for a GOP nomination. Riley was defeated by Rep. Terry Keel, who accepted $15,500 worth of contributions and legal services from his brother, Baker & Botts lawyer Patrick Keel. Philip Rhodes gave $10,000 to his son, Rep. Alec Rhodes, whose family ran Martinez Office Supply. Ranching fortune heir Daniel Gustafson spent $14,000 of his own money in a failed bid to wrest the Democratic nomination from Rep. Sherri Greenberg. Chemical plant operator Ben Harrison gave $11,000 to son Brooks Harrison to support his unsuccessful run against Rep. Robert Talton.¹¹

Finally, the $47,500 contributed by Don Henley appears to have more to do with his environmental interests than with any attempt to persuade rocking House members to buy more Eagles recordings.

¹¹ The elder Harrison did not just back his son financially. Police arrested him on misdemeanor assault charges after he got into a brawl with Rep. Talton over where to distribute campaign literature.