March 30, 2000

March Money Madness

Texas Supreme Court justices again are raising more special-interest money than necessary—even though their own polls found that:
  • 83 percent of Texans say judges are influenced by campaign contributions; and
  • Just 1 percent of attorneys in Texas say campaign contributions have no influence on judicial opinions. 
Candidate  War Chest  $ Ratio  Vote 
Valorie Davenport 
$7,650
 
36%
Nathan Hecht
$554,197
72:1
65%
Rod Gorman
$515
 
42%
Alberto Gonzales
$538,967
1,047:1
58%

Incumbents Nathan Hecht and Alberto Gonzales raised $1.1 million for the recent Republican primary. This was 134 times the $8,165 raised by their opponents—who both lost by margins of more than 15 percentage points. 
 

The Biggest Special-Interest Checks
Amount    Source Recipient
$20,000  Texans for Lawsuit Reform      Gonzales 
$14,000  Hughes & Luce  Gonzales 
$10,000  Hughes & Luce  Hecht

Though the incumbents did not need overwhelming funding advantages to win, they kept on raising special-interest money. Justice Hecht took 75 percent of his war chest from lawyers as well as tort interests affiliated with Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Civil Justice League. Justice Gonzales took 62 percent of his cash from these interests. 

Texans for Lawsuit Reform wrote the biggest single check: $20,000 to Justice Gonzales. Corporate defense firm Hughes & Luce wrote five-digit checks to both incumbents. •
 

March Dollar Docket
Cases heard by the Texas Supreme Court in Marchy and the corresponding contributions to justices from the parties and/or attorneys.
 
March 1, 2000
Sylvester Turner v. 
$3,500 
KTRK Television 
$83,650
Rocor International v.
$0
National Union Fire Ins.
$14,400
March 22, 2000
Corpus Christi Diocese v.
$72,813
Dewhurst 
$51,650
Stringer v. 
$0
Cendant Mortgage Corp.
$0
Payne v. 
$5,200
Galen Hospital Corp 
$18,650
Total for March: 
$249,863
Who Bankrolled the Justices’ Primaries?

 
 

Home | Dollar Dockets