Corporate cash testing legal limits
Grand jury inquiry into Texas political groups reverberating through the Capitol
Sunday, February 22, 2004
When it comes to campaign cash, state politics is not a poster child for restraint.
Although their federal counterparts must operate under the $2,000 limit per individual donation, state politicians argue they should be able to take as much money as possible as long as the public knows who gave it. Six-figure donations from one individual are not unusual in statewide campaigns, and legislators routinely collect five-figure sums from one supporter.
The Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican Majority, targets of a yearlong grand jury investigation, did not pour unprecedented sums of corporate money into the 2002 elections because candidates are having a hard time raising money from individuals. They did it, in part, because company executives and their lobbyists are more willing to donate their stockholders' money than their own.
In doing so, however, both organizations tested one of the few restrictions in the Texas campaign finance laws: corporate or labor dollars cannot be used as campaign expenditures. Call it the ban against using other people's money, stockholders' or union employees', without their consent.
They also added a layer of secrecy to Texas elections. The state's largest business organization is refusing to disclose which corporations financed its $1.9 million advertising campaign for the 2002 elections.
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