PIRG: Mortgaged House: Taking Care of Business

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Mortgaged House

B. Taking Care of Business: House Dominated by PAC, Business Money

Businesses and political action committees (PACs) directly contributed 62 percent ($9 million) of the House’s money. Eighty percent of House members got at least half of their money from these sources.

Dependency On PAC and Business Money

20 Most-Dependent Members
Dist.	Member	Party	%
3	Pete Patterson	D	97
145	Diana Davila	D	93
29	Tom Uher	D	89
86	John Smithee	R	89
97	Anna Mowery	R	89
52	Mike Krusee	R	88
73	Bob Turner	D	88
95	Glenn Lewis	D	88
62	Ron Clark	R	87
130	John Culberson	R	87
54	Suzanna Hupp	R	85
64	Jim Horn	R	84
105	Dale Tillery	D	84
16	Bob Rabuck	R	83
61	Ric Williamson	R	83
146	Al Edwards	D	83
99	Kenny Marchant	R	82
142	Harold Dutton Jr.	D	82
88	Warren Chisum	R	81
101	Elvira Reyna	R	81
110	Jesse Jones	D	81

20 Least-Dependent Members
Dist.	Member	Party	%
14	Bill Roman	R	0
69	John Hirschi	D	2
134	Kyle Janek	R	28
90	Lon Burnam	D	32
51	Glen Maxey	D	36
47	Terry Keel	R	37
44	Richard Raymond	D	39
108	Carolyn Galloway	R	39
71	Bob Hunter	R	41
26	Charlie Howard	R	41
89	Sue Palmer	R	41
76	Norma Chavez	D	41
107	Harryette Ehrhardt	D	41
92	Todd Smith	R	42
48	Sherri Greenberg	D	43
15	Thomas Williams	R	43
122	John Shields	R	44
7	Tommy Merritt	R	44
104	Domingo Garcia	D	45
58	Arlene Wohlgemuth	R	45
114	Will Hartnett	R	46

Rep. Pete Patterson, D-Brookston, leads the pack in this category, taking 97 percent of his contributions from PACs and businesses.⁶ Rep. Diana Davila, D-Houston, followed Patterson, taking 93 percent of her contributions from businesses and PACs. Three runners up (John Smithee, R-Amarillo, Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, and Tom Uher, D-Bay City) all took 89 cents of each dollar they raised from PACs and businesses.

Although these five representatives are the most dependent on businesses and PACs, just 27 members got more than half of their money from people contributing as individuals. Rep. Bill Roman, R-College Park, is the only House member who took no direct business or PAC money. Rep. John Hirschi, who does not take PAC money, took less than two percent of his money from local businesses. Every other House member took more than 28 percent of his or her money directly from PACs and businesses.

The “High-Flying PACs” section of this report reveals that most of the PACs moving large volumes of money are big-business PACs rather than “people PACs,” which bundle together large numbers of small contributions. The “High-Flying Individuals” section reveals that most of the individuals who write the biggest political checks are wealthy business people, too. As such, this section understates the real influence of business interests on House members.

⁶ As noted earlier, Rep. Patterson only raised $12,825.