Posts Tagged ‘Harriet Miers’

A Closer Look at David Dewhurst’s Q1 Donors

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

I’ve been going through all 767 pages of David Dewhurst’s Q1 FEC report to see if anything leapt out at me. Honestly, this is really more of a sampler, since as the bank in the race, there’s just no end of Presidents, CEOs, Founders and Owners of various oil companies, insurance companies, banks, car dealerships, etc. donating to Dewhurst.

Some notable names among Dewhurst’s individual donors. Unless otherwise noted (or I screwed something up) these are current donations to date and are earmarked for the primary:

  • Retired Republican State Senator Kip Averitt gave $2,500.
  • Clayton Bennett, chairman of Dorchester Capital and chief owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team gave $2,500.
  • Frank Camp, founder of the liberal No Texas Teacher Left Behind, gave $1,000. The only other donation I can find on record from Mr. Camp went to Pennsylvania Democrat Joe Sestak, who lost his 2010 Senate race to Republican incumbent Pat Toomey.
  • Phrma head John J. Castellani gave $1,000. Castellani is an example of what’s wrong with Washington these days, spewing money to swells on both sides of the aisle, including Republicans like Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Mike Castle, and Democrats like Chris Dodd, Max Baucus, and Harry Reid. Oh, he also gave money to the “Every Republican is Crucial PAC.”
  • Noted heart surgeon Denton Cooley gave Dewhurst $600.
  • Houston philanthropy diva Carolyn Farb (who you can see with Dewhurst here) tossed in $250.
  • Former UT engineering department Dean Ernest F. Gloyna (who I did some temp work for some two decades ago) contributed $425.
  • Democrat-turned-Republican and current Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance gave $2,500 (though he listed his current position as attorney with his own law firm, Hance Scarborough and Wright).
  • Ken Hicks, the New York/Connecticut-based CEO of Foot Locker, gave two donations of $2,500 each, and his (I’m assuming) wife Lucille gave $5,000, all marked for the primary, of which $2,500 (if I’m reading the form correctly) was refunded.
  • Tom Love, Frank Love, Greg Love, and Judy Love, all of Love’s Travel Stops of Oklahoma, each gave $2,500 for the primary and $2,500 for the general election.
  • Joseph A. McBride, owner of Austin gun store McBride’s Guns, gave $1,350.
  • Top Austin lobbyist Dean R. McWilliams gave $5,000 ($2,500 each to primary and general funds).
  • Harriet Miers, withdrawn Bush43 Supreme Court nominee, gave $2,500.
  • George P. Mitchell, oil and gas pioneer, gave $5,000 ($2,500 each to primary and general funds).
  • H. Ross Perot, Jr. gave $5,000 ($2,500 each to primary and general funds), and his wife Sarah tossed in another $2,500.
  • Retiring State Senator Florence Shapiro (who considered running for this seat herself) gave $2,500.
  • Former State Senator (and former Waco Mayor) David Sibley gave $3,500, of which $1,000 was transferred to the primary fund.
  • Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon/Mobile, gave $1,000.
  • Power lobbyist and Rick Perry capo Mike Toomey gave $5,000 ($2,500 each to primary and general funds), as did his wife.
  • Now a brief look at the corporate donors. I’m omitting the ones already announced on Dewhurst’s website that I’ve been including in the regular Senate race updates.

  • Bill Miller Bar-B-Q gave $1,000. (There are lots of legendary BBQ places in Texas. Bill Miller is not among them.)
  • Bass Brothers Enterprises Inc. PAC (operated by the wealthy Bass family of Ft. Worth) gave $10,000 (half primary, half general).
  • Cadance Bank PAC of Birmingham, AL gave $2,500.
  • Citigroup PAC of Pennsylvania gave $5,000.
  • Dr Pepper Snapple PAC gave $2,500.
  • Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. Citizenship Committee of Arizona gave $10,000 (half primary, half general), plus some individual donations from officers.
  • As did the DC-based McMoran Exploration Company Citizenship Committee
  • Humana’s DC-based PAC gave $2,500.
  • Pfizer PAC gave $5,000.
  • As did the PACs of TI, Time Warner, Union Pacific, and United States Steel.
  • Overall impressions: Lots of oil industry people, bankers, real estate developers, lawyers, and, for some reason, a statistically improbable number of dairy owners. And give Dewhurst credit for one thing his campaign team has been emphasizing: The overwhelming majority of individual donor money he’s raised has come from inside Texas.

    A look at the expenses side of Dewhurst’s FEC report when I have time.