Newsroom>Leininger

What Political Money Gets You
by Kathy Miller, TEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK, Austin American-Statesman
Thursday, March 02, 2006

James Leininger is teaching Texas schoolchildren a sad civics lesson this year: When wealthy special interests can’t get lawmakers to give them what they want, they just buy new lawmakers. read more

TFN Asks for Investigation into Leininger PACs
March 2, 2006: Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller today asked state election officials to investigate whether two political action committees funded by the state’s biggest private school voucher pusher have complied with campaign finance laws. read more

Dr. James Leininger: Money Man of the Religious Right
He has been called the “sugar daddy” of the far right in Texas,[1] and Dr. James Leininger is certainly one of the most politically powerful men in Texas. Yet he holds no elected office and rarely makes public appearance. Instead, the San Antonio businessman uses his deep pockets to influence the political process behind the scenes. read more

Leininger Has Given the PAC $1.8 Million
The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas Freedom Network is calling for an investigation of a pro-voucher PAC.

February 8, 2006
Following the Money
James Leininger, the San Antonio millionaire who is one of the major contributors to the pro-voucher movement in the state and nation, is at it again. This time he has taken aim at five Republicans who dared to vote against the Speaker (and Leininger) by voting against vouchers in the last session of the legislature. Four of the five—Representatives Merritt, Geren, Jones, and Casteel, who are endorsed by TSTA-Political Action Committee—also voted against HB 2.  This story, reprinted with the permission of the Quorum Report, details Leininger’s activity to date in those five races. 

LEININGER PAC RUNS AT LEAST FIVE CAMPAIGNS
Overwhelmingly, Contributions Were in Kind
Last week we revealed that the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee PAC was apparently a vehicle to conduit funds from San Antonio physician James Leininger into a series of campaigns targeting selected anti-voucher Republicans including Charlie Geren, Carter Casteel, Roy Blake, Tommy Merritt and Delwin Jones.

This campaign finance report verifies that assumption.

In this reporting cycle, TRLCC reports only one contribution -- $500,000 from Dr. Leininger and his pledge for another $250,000. The PAC reports support for five candidates -- all opponents to the above listed incumbents.

In fact, in all but one case, Dr. Leininger individually or through his PAC represents 93% or more of the candidate's total contributions. The exception is Chris Hatley who is opposing Geren. Leininger only contributed 88% of his total on this report. But when you add Bob Perry's contributions, the two men are responsible for 97% of the challenger's total dollars.

The candidates themselves have actually received little or no direct funding from Leininger's PAC. The vast majority of the dollars are paid from TRLCC PAC directly to media buyers, production companies, opposition researchers and the like.

On January 10, Milton Rister's Keep Texas Strong received five $1,500 payments totaling $7,500 for opposition research on behalf of the five challengers. Rister was appointed director of the Legislative Council last week.

The question is whether or not these candidates actually have any control over their own campaigns.

Here are the percentages of Leininger money in their campaigns

Mark Williams ($176,201) challenging Tommy Merritt -- 94%. With homebuilder Bob Perry's money, the total comes to 96%

Wayne Christian ($172,629) challenging Roy Blake -- 94%

Nathan Macias ($197,754) challenging Carter Casteel -- 92%

Van Wilson ($139,281) challenging Delwin Jones -- 93%. Add Bob Perry's money and it is 97%.

Chris Hatley ($62,433) challenging Charlie Geren -- 88% plus $10,000 from Bob Perry

Yesterday, Republican National Committeeman Bill Crocker claimed that he had founded the PAC to elect true conservatives. However, according the the reports, he has not made a single contribution to the PAC he supposedly founded. Copyright February 7, 2006 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, all rights are reserved