Governor Bush’s Well-Appointed Texas OfficialsHome
October 2000

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II. Introduction


Many of the thousands of Texans who serve on the state’s hundreds of boards and commissions are appointed by the governor. This appointment authority is one of the more significant powers of the Texas governor, who wields less influence than the governors of many other states. Even the Texas governor’s appointment powers are curtailed by the fact that Texas voters directly pick an unusually large number of state officials, including the comptroller, the attorney general, Board of Education members, state judges and the agriculture, land and railroad commissioners (who regulate the oil industry).
 
 
People Giving $1,000
To Governor Bush
Population
Donors Giving
at Least $1,000 (%)
Appointees studied
30 %
All Bush donors
.06 %
All Texans
.0003 %

 
Average Contribution
To Governor Bush
Population
Average
Contribution
Appointee donors
$11,259
All appointees studied
$3,326
All Bush donors
$357
All Texans
$2

Texas’ gubernatorial appointment powers are especially susceptible to political patronage abuse because the state imposes no limits on how much money a PAC or individual can give a candidate for state office. By longstanding tradition, Texas governors have built vast patronage systems by appointing major donors to influential or prestigious boards and commissions. For every plum appointment, however, the governor also appoints people to such humdrum or superfluous bodies as the: Cosmetology Commission; Barber Examiners Board; Egg Marketing Advisory Board; or the Committee of Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Instruments.

Overlooking the likes of egg-marketing boards, this report tallies George W. Bush’s gubernatorial contributions from people whom he nominated to serve on 50 of the most prestigious or influential state bodies. These 50 state bodies wield statewide influence that affects either millions of Texans or major commercial interests.

This report tracks gubernatorial contributions that Bush received from 413 of his appointees to these 50 boards and commissions. Bush received $1,000 or more in gubernatorial contributions from at least one member of 42 of these 50 boards and commissions. These 413 appointees contributed a total of $1,373,540 to Bush’s two gubernatorial campaigns. This money accounts for 3 percent of the $41 million total that Bush raised for his gubernatorial campaigns; it works out to an average of $3,326 per appointee.

These big-picture numbers obscure huge variations in what Bush’s appointees contributed to his gubernatorial campaigns. Of the 413 appointees studied,  291 (70 percent) did not give $1,000 to Bush’s campaigns. The remaining 122 appointees (30 percent) contributed between $1,000 and $141,000 each, for an average of $11,259 per appointed donor.

The dates of the gubernatorial appointments covered here do not overlap perfectly with the dates of the gubernatorial contributions. Governor Bush nominated these appointees between January 1995 and June 2000. The appointees and their immediate family members made their contributions between late 1993 and the end of 1998. Most appointed donors made multiple contributions to Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns over this five-year period. Typically, they wrote some of these checks before Governor Bush nominated them for public office and later made additional post-appointment contributions. A breakdown of individual contributions made by a specific appointee are available from Texans for Public Justice upon request.
 

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