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Texas PACs 2002

I. Total Texas PAC Spending

This report identifies and ranks Texas’ top general-purpose political action committees (PACs) in the 2002 election cycle. These rankings are based on the total amount of expenditures that PACs electronically reported to the Texas Ethics Commission.1  During the two-year election cycle ending in December 2002, 964 general-purpose PACs reported spending a total of $85.3 million.2

Texas PAC spending almost doubled from $43 million in the 1996 cycle to more than $85 million in the 2002 cycle. The greatest growth spurt (58 percent) occurred from 2000 to 2002.
 
 

Texas PAC Spending Doubled From 1996-2002
Election
Cycle		 No. of
Active PACs		 PAC
Spending		 Spending Increase
From Previous Cycle		 Spending
Increase (%)
1996 911 $43,082,546  NA  NA 
1998 893 $51,543,820  $8,461,274  20% 
2000 865 $53,996,975  $2,453,155  05% 
2002 964 $85,320,226  $31,323,251  58% 


1 The rankings section of this report excludes PAC expenditures that were not electronically reported to the Texas Ethics Commission. For more on these PACs, see TPJ’s “Luddite PACs & Candidates: Texas Political Funds that Dodge the Internet,” October 2002. http://www.tpj.org/docs/2002/10/reports/luddites02/index.html
  2 While the largest PAC expenditures typically take the form of contributions to candidates or other PACs, PACs also spend money on overhead and other expenses—all of which are included here.