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II. Comparing Business, Ideological & Labor PACs
Business PACs accounted for 56 percent of all spending in the 2002 cycle; Ideological and Single-Issue PACs spent 39 percent of all PAC money; and Labor PACs spent just 4 percent of the total.
Spending by Ideological and Single-Issue PACs almost doubled from 2000 to 2002, far outstripping the 39 percent spending increase among both Business and Labor PACs. The Ideological sector's recent torrid growth in spending is all the more remarkable given that PAC spending in this sector actually had dropped 5 percent from 1998 to 2000.
| Sector | 1996
Cycle |
1998
Cycle |
2000
Cycle |
2002
Cycle |
Growth From
2000-2002 (%) |
| Business | $27,314,623 | $31,516,817 | $34,416,627 | $48,000,676 | 39% |
| Ideology | $13,713,797 | $17,719,192 | $16,870,715 | $33,466,788 | 98% |
| Labor | $1,886,325 | $2,259,742 | $2,707,704 | $3,776,290 | 39% |
| Unknown | $167,801 | $48,068 | $1,929 | $76,473 | |
| TOTAL | $43,082,546 | $51,543,820 | $53,996,975 | $85,320,226 | 58% |
Two tables below help identify what drove
the huge PAC spending increase from 2000 to 2002 especially among Ideological
PACs. The first table shows the nine largest new PACs, which each spent
more than $100,000 in 2002 despite spending nothing in the 2000 cycle.
More than half of these new PACs, which spent more than $2.3 million in
2002, are Ideological and Single-Issue PACs.
| PAC | Interest | 2002
Spending |
| Texans for a Republican Majority | Ideological | $800,441 |
| Q PAC | Finance | $270,048 |
| Texans For Governmental Integrity | Ideological | $261,563 |
| Citizens for Equality | Ideological | $206,507 |
| MAXIMUS, Inc. | Computers | $199,025 |
| Southeast Texas Democrats | Ideological | $178,655 |
| Landry's Seafood Restaurants | Misc. Business | $148,900 |
| Democratic Party of Bexar County | Ideological | $127,725 |
| Gulf States Toyota, Inc. | Transportation | $119,787 |
Dominating the new PACs is Texans for a Republican Majority (TRM), the controversial PAC associated with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Although TRM reported to the IRS that it made $1.4 million in political expenditures in the 2002 cycle, it just reported $800,000 of this amount to the Texas Ethics Commission. The cause of this $600,000 discrepancy is that TRM failed to report $600,000 in corporate money to regulators in Texas—which prohibits spending corporate funds to influence state elections. A Travis County grand jury is investigating charges that TRM PAC illegally spent this corporate money in 2002 to help Republicans seize a Texas House majority and then redraw Texas’ congressional districts. One of TRM PAC’s corporate donors, Houston’s Gulf States Toyota, has an affiliated PAC that ranks among the top new PAC.
Republican legislative candidates also got a boost from Texans for Governmental Integrity, an Ideological PAC bankrolled by San Antonio conservative James Leininger. The last three top new Ideological PACs are all Democratic: Dallas-based Citizens for Equality, Southeast Texas Democrats and the Democratic Party of Bexar County.
Ideological PACs also dominate the fastest-growing
Texas PACs that spent more than $100,000 in the 2002 election cycle. Like
TRM PAC, the Campaign for Republican Leadership’s chief objective was to
elect a Republican House majority in 2002. Instead of using corporate money,
however, the campaign for Republican Leadership raised money from GOP House
members—led by the man who would be speaker: Rep. Tom Craddick.
| PAC | Sector | 2000
Spending |
2002
Spending |
2000-2002
Growth (%) |
| Campaign For Republican Leadership | Ideological | $62 | $171,039 | 277,515% |
| Lone Star Fund - TX | Ideological | $1,100 | $220,219 | 19,920% |
| Travis County Democratic Party | Ideological | $5,000 | $235,658 | 4,613% |
| Harris County GOP | Ideological | $9,077 | $129,120 | 1,323% |
| C Club | Ideological | $13,076 | $150,453 | 1,051% |
| El Paso Energy Corp. | Energy | $27,500 | $313,200 | 1,039% |
| Progressive Voters In Action | Ideological | $34,568 | $272,147 | 687% |
| International Bank of Commerce | Finance | $20,500 | $123,641 | 503% |
| TX Assn. of Business | Misc. Business | $46,664 | $275,956 | 491% |
| TX Friends of Time Warner Cable | Communications | $30,237 | $176,704 | 484% |
Democratic Congressman Martin Frost’s Lone Star Fund is a competing fast-growth PAC. In response to the TRM PAC allegations, Republican Senator Bob Deuell accused the Lone Star Fund of illegally contributing corporate money to Texas state candidates. Democratic Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who continues to investigate TRM PAC, cleared the Lone Star Fund of those charges in July 2004. Earle’s office also continues to probe the Texas Association of Business (TAB), which had a fast-growth PAC. Separate from its PAC activities, TAB spent $2 million in corporate money on ads attacking Democratic House candidates.
Travis County Democrats had one fast-growth
ideological PACs, while Houston Republicans had two: The Harris County
GOP and the conservative, Houston-based C Club. The last fast-growth ideological
PAC, Progressive Voters in Action, is a Houston PAC that supports candidates
who support gays.
