Money, Clout and Texas Politics

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Money, Clout and Texas Politics
By Paul Singer, CQ-Roll Call


Hundreds of thousands of dollars that will ultimately end up funding state, federal and local campaigns for Texas Democrats this year will first churn through a nondescript row house on Capitol Hill.

It’s the headquarters for a tight network of organizations dedicated to electing Democrats in the Lone Star State.

At the center of the operation is Matt Angle, the former chief of staff for ex-Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), who can reach into the checkbook of an organization he runs and make a donation to another organization he runs, pay rent to himself as a landlord, hire himself as a consultant, and employ a handful of friends, party activists and longtime Frost allies.

The various organizations Angle runs take in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from a handful of Texas Democratic activists and organizations. The money is redistributed to local Democratic campaigns and other party organizations, some of which Angle also runs or works for.

Angle’s roster of donors and consultants is packed with employees of the Texas Democratic Party and affiliated organizations.

And it appears that all of it is perfectly legal.

“The Texas Democratic Trust was formed to rebuild the Democratic infrastructure in Texas,” Angle said. “It operates entirely within the law doing exactly what it set out to do.”

What the Texas Democratic Trust and Angle’s other organizations — the Lone Star Fund, the Lone Star Project and the Texas Justice Fund — set out to do is reverse the mid-decade redistricting led by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), which forced several long-tenured House Democrats out of office.

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