Thread by @christackettnow

As we enter the full on crazy primary season, endorsements from various groups will start popping up in your social media feed, in your local papers, and overloading your mailbox. It's important to understand who the money is behind these groups, who is conducting the orchestra.

One of the groups rolling out endorsements is Texans for Lawsuit Reform, who have been big players in Texas politics for a bunch of years. Since 1/1/2011, this group has contributed $24,678,603 to 375 different campaigns at all levels. #txlege

According to Drew Darby, who received his endorsement on January 8, Texans for Lawsuit Reform is pushing to make sure our legal system "remains efficient, effective, and fair for all Texans", which is parroting what TLR said in their endorsement. Is TLR pushing for all Texans?

Here are the Texans for Lawsuit Reform donor charts from the 2012 cycle.
$8.59m in contributions
654 contributors
10 people make up over 50%
164 wrote checks for $200 or less
Weekley, McNair, Perot all giving around $500k

Here are the Texans for Lawsuit Reform donor charts from the 2014 cycle.
$7.28m in contributions
611 contributors
10 people make up 43%
67 wrote checks for $200 or less
Weekley, McNair, Perot all giving $500k or more

Here are the Texans for Lawsuit Reform donor charts from the 2016 cycle.
$8.32m in contributions
589 contributors
10 people make up 46%
44 wrote checks for $200 or less
Weekley (Richard and David) gave over $800k, McNair $600k, Perot $300k, plus eye popping amounts from others

Here are the Texans for Lawsuit Reform donor charts from the 2018 cycle.
$8.48m in contributions
499 contributors
10 people make up 42%
19 wrote checks for $200 or less
Weekley (Richard and David) gave over $800k, McNair $600k, Perot $300k

Here are the Texans for Lawsuit Reform donor charts from the 2020 cycle thru the Semi-Jul 19 report
$3.9m in contributions
266 contributors
10 people make up 45%
6 wrote checks for $200 or less
Weekley (Richard and David) gave over $500k, McNair $150k, Perot $300k

Who the heck are these people? And do we think they are really spending all this money to make sure our legal system "remains efficient, effective, and fair for all Texans"? Or maybe just to make sure the legal system works to benefit a few Texans (and their businesses)

The tweet above is just highlighting the three biggest donors over the past 4+ election cycles. Other major donors have very similar backgrounds / wealth. They are real estate developers, oil & gas execs, and financial specialists. Do they want to keep things fair for all Texans?

Are these folks giving just to Texans for Lawsuit Reform? Nope. Richard Weekley has given $2.5m to TLR since 1/1/11. He has also given $4.2m directly to 271 other PACs and candidates, including:
- $193k Greg Abbott
- $410k Harris Co Rep Party
- $125k to Rep Party of TX

Are these folks giving just to Texans for Lawsuit Reform? Robert & Janice McNair have given $2.3m to TLR since 1/1/11. They have also given $3.6m directly to 93 other PACs and candidates, including:
- $900k Greg Abbott
- $220k Harris Co Rep Party
- $330k to Rep Party of TX

Are these folks giving just to Texans for Lawsuit Reform? H Ross Perot Jr has given $1.1m to TLR since 1/1/11. He has also given $2.4m directly to 68 other PACs and candidates, including:
- $917k Greg Abbott
- $170k Assoc Rep of Texas
- $70k to Don Huffines

Now that we are mentioning parties, what does the Republican Party of Texas PAC look like for the 2018 cycle? Who's donating the biggest share of the $5.4m?
1 - Harris Co Rep Party $705k
2 - Don Huffines $602k
3 - Holloway Frost $506k
4 - Texans for Lawsuit Reform $170k

How about the Harris County Republican Party PAC? What does their chart look like from the 2018 cycle, when they took in $2.9m? Hey, look at that, it's all the same names from the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC!

Let's look at Don Huffines 2018 cycle, where he took in $2.3m.
- Republican Party of Texas $482k
- Greg Abbott $160k
- Texans for Lawsuit Reform $100k
- Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (Farris Wilks) $100k
- Empower Texans $50k
- H Ross Perot $50k

How about Holloway Frost and Kathaleen Wall, where were they putting their money in the 2018 cycle?
- $506k to Republican Party of Texas
- $393k to Greg Abbott
- $200k to Texas Right to Life & Texans for Lawsuit Reform
- $172k to Harris Co Rep Party
- $50k to Empower Texans

It's all a big loop of money, with the same core people behind so much of it. When it's the same people driving, realize the endorsements are pure propaganda, pushing you to support the candidate who will support keeping those at the top at the top, not "fair for all Texans".

I've compiled this into an article on Medium, which hopefully makes it easier to share for those not on Twitter (and added in the chart of Associated Republicans of Texas, which is just another PAC for the people behind the TLR PAC to endorse from)
medium.com/@cjtackett/the…