The DMN has an interesting story about gambling industry players making large campaign finance contributions, but there’s some context missing.
A review by The Dallas Morning News of contributions since last July shows horse track interests have poured more than $4.2 million into campaigns and special committees.
That would average about $23,000 per lawmaker in the House and Senate, with the traditional surge of donations closer to the November election yet to come.
The News identified 33 horse track investors and those who have applied to become owners as substantial givers. They cover the political spectrum and are pushing other agendas before the Legislature in addition to gambling.
Included in this amount is Steve Mostyn and the $1.4 million it says he’s contributed so far. I’m wondering what the DMN’s parameters for this search was, since I know Mostyn contributed to a number of Harris County judicial candidates in the primary. Mostyn says in the article that his primary concern is getting Democrats elected, and I take him at his word on that, but even if you don’t a lot of his money is not going to legislative campaigns, or is going to general interest PACs. I ran a TEC query on Mostyn’s name, with a range of July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. Initially, I found $1.47 million in contributions. Taking out money he gave to the Coalition of Harris County Democratic Elected Officials and judicial candidates such as Amy Clark Meachum leaves $1.2 million. He’s also given significant amounts to Texans for Insurance Reform ($170K), the HDCC ($100K), and the Texas Forward Committee ($30K), all of which will be supporting candidates who may or may not ultimately vote for a gambling bill. There’s the Back to Basics PAC, to which he’s given over $300K. A few thousand more has gone to Bill White, and to people who are on their way out of the Lege, such as Norma Chavez and Eliot Shapleigh. If I add up his total contributions to current legislators and legislative candidates, it comes out to just short of $400K. That’s a lot of money, to be sure, but a whole lot less than $1.4 million. As such, that $4.2 million figure cited above is overstated by at least a million dollars, and maybe quite a bit more.
Duane Galligher, spokesman for the Texas Gaming Association, said that group is pushing for legislation that would allow destination resort casinos in Texas, not just slots at existing tracks. It also supports gambling rights for the state’s three recognized American Indian tribes.
[…]
Despite financial hardships for tracks and the lagging economy, early donations show horse track owners have upped the ante compared with the entire 2004 election cycle.
A study by Texans for Public Justices, a nonprofit campaign watchdog, showed track owners gave $3.6 million in 2004 elections, compared with this year’s $4.2 million.
Galligher’s group has a political committee, but so far has raised little money and made only a handful of contributions.
But two years ago, the Texas Gaming Association made large contributions closer to the general election.
“By and large, I’m not at liberty to state what our plans are, but we do intend to participate in the political process,” he said.
I presume the $3.6 million for 2004 represented the entire cycle, and not just the period ending June 30. Even if you don’t discount that $4.2 million as I just did, the final total would need to be considerably higher than $3.6 million – I’m thinking at least $6 million – just to keep up with the inflation rate for legislative campaigns. So again, while we are talking about a lot of money, it’s not as much as it first appears. Having said that, adding in whatever the Texas Gaming Association does could easily change that.
Another question to ask is are these interests giving to their usual supporters, or are they reaching out to those that have voted against them in the past? In addition, how much are they giving to candidates who are running against known gambling opponents, and how much are they giving to candidates who are seeking to fill open seats? I mean, if all they’re doing is writing bigger checks to the people who are already on their side of this issue, how much does that really matter?