Thread by @McGeeReports

Thread: Texas governors choose who sits on university boards.

And Gov. Greg Abbott has continued a trend seen before — especially during the Perry years — to appoint campaign donors as regents.

Buckle up for a #tldr breakdown:

texastribune.org/2022/10/18/gre…

Our analysis shows:

- 70% of appointed university regents in TX have given to Abbott since 2013

- about 30% of the appointees have given more than $100,000 each

This includes $ from spouses & regents' biz if they are founder/CEO. It excludes student regents who cannot vote.

We found that the larger & more prestigious the university system, the more likely its board is to be stacked with deep-pocketed donors.

UT System: 1 appointee is not a donor.
A&M System:  8/10 appointees have given more than $200,000
UH System: 7/10 have given at least $80K

Meanwhile, boards for smaller systems have fewer donors who give less on average. While Abbott’s appointees at UT have donated nearly $7.5 million, appointees to the Texas Woman’s University System have donated $104K. Texas Southern University Regents have donated ~$14K

Overall, university regents have given Abbott ~$28M, meaning $1 out of every $11 raised by Abbott since 2013 came from someone sitting on a higher education board.

Many of these regents have made their fortunes in business & bring skills necessary to run a system.

Plus, it’s demanding & unpaid work.

Some lawmakers & governance experts say that makes them good candidates for these positions

Others say it shows a pay-to-play system is at work:

“Having the ability to write a $100,000 check gets you in front of the line of all those who might be qualified. They expect something in return.” - Craig McDonald with Texans for Public Justice

Other critics say many large $ donors want to serve on university boards for the prestige & access:

“There are no real benefits offered to regents other than what most of them secretly desire, which is to have their egos stroked” — Former UT Regent Wallace Hall

Students say they’re concerned the overrepresentation of donors contributes to a lack of diversity on university boards.

Nearly 2/3rds of regents in TX are white.

Around 12% are Hispanic, even though most public universities are Hispanic Serving Institutions.

Most Black regents serve on TSU’s board. Outside of that board, there are fewer than 10 Black regents across the other 9 boards in TX

In 2017, TX Rep. Lyle Larson filed a bill to prevent governors from appointing people who have given over $2,500 to state boards.

It passed out of the house with bipartisan support but died in the senate.

texastribune.org/2017/05/06/tex…

Larson told the Tribune that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told him he wouldn’t give the bill a hearing because “that’s how people raise large sums of money when they want to run for governor.”

Patrick didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment about that exchange.

This story was written alongside another story about Abbott’s prolific campaigning & the wealthy donors who support him with @carla_astudi, @PatrickSvitek and @zachdespart:

texastribune.org/2022/10/18/gre…

#txlege

And to clarify an earlier tweet, Larson's bill wouldn't allow a governor to appoint someone to a board if they've donated $2,500+ to their campaign in a single year.