Who's paying for the the Texas Senators NM vacation?

San Antonio Express News | 8/14/2003 | Roddy Stinson

[The South Texan]

Here's some Roddy Stinson for you:

Roddy Stinson: Who's paying for senators' N.M. visit? (you will be amazed)

Web Posted : 08/14/2003 12:00 AM

On the sleuthing trail ... CASE: "Roddy, I keep reading that taxpayers aren't paying the expenses of the 11 Democratic senators who ran away to Albuquerque.

"I find that difficult to believe. Who is paying their bills?"

INVESTIGATION: The senators have told reporters that they are paying for their meals and hotel rooms with "personal funds" or "money from campaign officeholder accounts."

Bet on the latter.

The scheme to kill congressional redistricting is being financed by fat cats and political action committees who feed the senators' officeholder kitties.

Fortunately for the politicos, the Albuquerque vacation won't make much of a dent in their accounts.

Case in point: Sen. Juan Hinojosa, one of the unofficial leaders of the runaway group.

According to state records, between July 1 and Dec 31, 2002, he received $236,386 in contributions.

$100,000 of the money (42 percent) came from only seven contributors:

Texas Trial Lawyer Association PAC — $50,000

Richard Warren Mithoff, a personal injury lawyer in Houston — $10,000

Perry & Haas, a personal injury law firm in Corpus Christi — $10,000

Morgan & Weisbrod, a medical malpractice law firm in Dallas — $10,000

Baron & Budd, a plaintiff law firm in Dallas — $5,000

Frank L. Branson, a personal injury lawyer in Dallas — $5,000

C. Cary Patterson, a Texarkana attorney specializing in class action suits — $5,000.

It gets uglier.

While verifying the $50,000 contribution to Hinojosa from the TTLA, I found several references to the Runagate Eleven.

Since 2000, the trial-lawyer PAC has contributed ...

$87,500 to Gonzalo Barrientos

$20,000 to Rodney Ellis

$6,000 to Frank Madla

$10,000 to Eliot Shapleigh

$11,500 to Leticia Van de Putte

$15,000 to Royce West

$5,000 to John Whitmire

$5,000 to Judith Zaffirini

Individual trial lawyers also contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the senators. (A few examples: Cary Patterson contributed $5,000 to Zaffirini; Perry & Haas contributed $5,000 to Barrientos and Morgan & Weisbrod contributed $7,000 to West.)

Of course, other professional/business/labor groups contributed to the senators' treasuries.

San Antonio Sen. Van de Putte, the most vocal vacationer, reported contributions of $197,639 during the last six months of 2002.

Very little of the money came from her constituents. Her finance report reads like "Who's Who Among Austin Lobbyists."

Space limitation prevents my listing all of the special interest groups that contributed $1,000 or more to her campaign/officeholder account, so I will just mention a few large contributions from San Antonio individuals, groups and firms:

H.B. Zachry PAC, $1,000; Loeffler, Jones & Tuggey, $2,000; Martinez Garcia & Co., $1,500; Henry Muñoz, $1,000; San Antonio Apartment Association, $1,000; San Antonio Firefighters, $1,750; San Antonio Police Officers Association, $1,500.

The latter two groups have made it possible for San Antonio taxpayers and City Public Service ratepayers to answer the question, "Who is paying the expenses of the Runagate Eleven?" by looking into a mirror.

Follow the dollars ...

From taxpayers/ratepayers to City Hall ... to pay envelopes of uniformed personnel ... to dues paid to fire/police unions ... to the officeholder account of Van de Putte (not to mention Madla, Zaffirini, Barrientos and Whitmire) ... to Albuquerque's Marriott Pyramid North ...

" ... a Southwestern-style hotel, featuring an open, 10-story atrium with a rock waterfall and lush greenery ... with two restaurants and a lobby lounge, indoor/outdoor pool and fitness room"

I'm sure the senators would want me to thank you.

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To contact Roddy Stinson, call (210) 250-3155 or e-mail rstinson@express-news.net. His column appears on Tuesday

[shiva]

Just Damn!

[GUIDO]

So know we know what they were praying for last sunday @ the New Mexico Catholic Church they attended. That was a photo op if I ever saw one. If anyone has it and knows how to post it we could have some fun captioning it.

I plan on calling Van de Putte's office once again and of course email to thank Roddy for all this useful info.

[The South Texan]

The Press is the press. Most of the larger city newpapers are liberal here in Texas as they are in California and New York. Just the same media imbreading. Your smaller cities might have conservative leanings, but those are far and in between.

My hometown paper, the Corpus Christi Ca Ca Times has been throwing one hissy fit after another over this. They bash Republicans every chance they get. I even questioned the editor on an online chat and denied that her paper was democrat, left leaning when I told her that her paper's editorials lean toward the Rats about 90% of the time. She shrugged it of and insisted that her paper "provided" balance by allowing viewpoints by other columnists. So far for every 10 against redistricing viewpoint articles, there might be two for redistricting. They even allow the Scripps Howard and Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau Chiefs to rip the GOP on the viewpoints pages on a regular basis. So much for objective journalists.

[The South Texan]

The Press is the press. Most of the larger city newpapers are liberal here in Texas as they are in California and New York. Just the same media imbreading. Your smaller cities might have conservative leanings, but those are far and in between.

My hometown paper, the Corpus Christi Ca Ca Times has been throwing one hissy fit after another over this. They bash Republicans every chance they get. I even questioned the editor on an online chat and denied that her paper was democrat, left leaning when I told her that her paper's editorials lean toward the Rats about 90% of the time. She shrugged it of and insisted that her paper "provided" balance by allowing viewpoints by other columnists. So far for every 10 against redistricing viewpoint articles, there might be two for redistricting. They even allow the Scripps Howard and Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau Chiefs to rip the GOP on the viewpoints pages on a regular basis. So much for objective journalists.

[Proud_texan]

There may be more but after reading just about every paper in Texas the only one I've found is the Tyler Morning Telegraph (http://www.tylerpaper.com).

40 years ago when I was there we held the county Republican meetings in a phone booth. I don't get up there much anymore but as far as I can tell it's one of the most conservative areas of a state that's been trending that way for 30 years.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the post and ping !!

Photos taken from the Texas Senators of the 78th Legislature website.

The 11 Obstructors:

Gonzalo Barrientos, Austin/Rodney Ellis, Houston/Mario Gallegos Jr., Houston

Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, McAllen/Eddie Lucio Jr., Brownsville/Frank Madla Jr., San Antonio

Eliot Shapleigh, El Paso/Leticia Van de Putte, San Antonio/Royce West, Dallas

John Whitmire, Houston/Judith Zaffirini, Laredo

---

The Lone Democrat that is staying:

Kenneth Armbrister, Victoria

[al_c]

Correction: Multiple villages missing multiple idiots.

[al_c]

Thanks for the post.Speaking of newspapers,can anyone name a newspaper in Texas that is at least fair and balanced and has a conservative lean in the editorial page?I'd like to visit their website!

Good luck finding one, but definitely stay away from the Austin American Statesman.

[al_c]

I wish someone from Albuquerque would play 'tourist' and take some pics of the," Southwestern-style hotel, featuring an open, 10-story atrium with a rock waterfall and lush greenery ... with two restaurants and a lobby lounge, indoor/outdoor pool and fitness room" and post them in here. I would love to see that.

Would you settle for a pic of one of the chickens "roughing it?" ...

State Sen. Rodney Ellis,
D-Houston, goes on a
bike ride Sunday near
Albuquerque.

[MEG33]

I remember when the campaign was over and the vote decided by the Dem.Primary.(That link to tylerpaper doesn't work but I found the site anyway)

[freekitty]

Yeah, but the Chicken Ds aren't in attendance; so why should they be paid? In fact, why should their staffs be paid?