The Texas Report 8/2

The Texas Report 8/2

What’s Happening:

• Texas Attorney General Paxton seeks dismissal of Impeachment Articles (More here)

• The Impact of Money in Texas Politics

• Governor Abbott announces $87.7 million in Housing Tax Credits (More here)

• George Soros bankrolls new organization focused on flipping Texas to Democrats (More here)

Texas Attorney General Paxton seeks dismissal of Impeachment Articles

Lawyers for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton requested Monday that nineteen of the twenty articles of impeachment be dismissed, arguing his removal would essentially "override the will of the people" who elected him with knowledge of alleged misconduct.

In a separate filing, Paxton's team requested that the Texas Senate trial exclude evidence of "any alleged conduct" prior to January 2023.

The unchallenged article is related to the $3.3 million lawsuit settlement he reached with whistleblowers in February, which served as the impetus for the House investigation that led to impeachment.

In explaining the challenge Paxton's team said, "With only a single exception, the articles (of impeachment) allege nothing that Texas voters have not heard from the Attorney General's political opponents for years. The alleged acts underlying 19 of the Articles took place before the Attorney General's most recent election and were highly publicized."

The Senate trial begins on Sept. 5 and will not be considering four articles of impeachment at this time. Some of these relate to the 2015 securities fraud charges for soliciting investors without disclosing he was paid. Paxton will appear as a defendant in a Houston felony courtroom on Thursday for his 8-year-old securities fraud case.

The House impeachment managers have until Aug. 15 to respond in writing to all pretrial motions.

The Money in Texas Politics and Its Impact - Part 1

With the ramp-up to election season, we've decided to cover the importance of money in Texas politics and its ultimate impact on the Texas legislature.

Millions are spent every Texas election cycle on behalf of Republicans and Democrats. There are several different prominent organizations and major funders on both sides of the aisle. The important thing for our readers to understand is the impact these funds have on the policies that impact you.

We plan to examine the different factions of each party and how opposing viewpoints within political parties lead to millions spent every election cycle in contested primaries.

Empower Texans

One of the most well-known Texas political organizations, Empower Texans, spent millions supporting conservative candidates in Republican primaries from 2006 - 2021. Since then, the organization has primarily rebranded under the leadership of former Representative Jonathan Stickland.

The below chart doesn't take into consideration some of their other subsidiary groups, which would drive many of these year-by-year numbers up. Additionally, we will be later analyzing the contributions of the major funders behind Empower to individual candidates.

• Empower Texans (also referred to as "Texans for Fiscal Responsibility" was well-known in part for primarying candidates they classified as "RINOS" in favor of more conservative Republicans. This is most evident in Texas House races, where Empower Texans typically primary multiple "moderates" a year.

To provide some context on Empower, the organization began in 2006 under the leadership of conservative journalist and political consultant Michael Quinn Sullivan.

The primary funders were the Wilk brothers and Tim Dunn; all made billions off oil and gas ventures. Empower began as a political action committee and would later develop its own newsroom (Texas Scorecard) and, in the eyes of some (including the Texas Ethics Commission), a conservative lobbying firm.

Michael Quinn Sullivan also rose to additional prominence by recording former Speaker Bonnen and Representative Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) in a 2019 meeting where Bonnen was trying to give Sullivan's media outlet credentials to cover the session on the House floor in exchange for putting pressure/targeting nine republicans in their 2020 primaries. This would lead to an investigation by the Texas Rangers and Bonnen leaving office after one term as Speaker. (More here)

• In addition, the group runs a ranking system for legislators based on their votes concerning Empower Texan's positions.

The group began in 2006 under the leadership of Sullivan to propose various budget reforms at the time related to tax relief. In a 2006 statement, Sullivan added: "TFR will promote a series of budget reforms this legislative session" - -

• reducing the impact of the newly created business tax;

• urging lawmakers not to exceed the current spending cap;

• protecting "dedicated" revenues for their designed purpose;

• requiring lawmakers to provide greater budget detail;

• enacting reforms to the current appraisal system and promoting transparency in spending.

That year they began their rating system. And if we were to look at the votes considered following the most recent session:

• Against supporting House Speaker Dade Phelan

• Against H.B. 1595 by Representative Greg Bonnen (R-Galveston) to in part redesignate the National Research University Fund as the "Texas University Fund" and modify its structure to offer performance-based funding. Pending voter approval, $100,000,000 would be added to the fund from the Economic Stabilization Fund.

• For H.B. 900 by Representative Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), which establishes the new rating system for books in public education libraries.

• Against H.B. 3946 by Representative Travis Clardy (R- Nacogdoches)

• Full Scorecard Methodology

Why this Matters

We will be doing a lot more analysis into the role Empower Texans has played over the years for elections and the impact on legislation.

Organizations like this (and others on both sides) exert significant influence in state politics due to the lower name I.D. nature of these races, despite the critical importance of the Texas legislature.

Governor Abbott announces $87.7 million in Housing Tax Credits (More here)

On Monday, Governor Abbott announced the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) awarded $87.7 million in housing tax credits to help finance the development or rehabilitation of 54 rental properties offering reduced rents and increased housing options for Texans throughout the state.

In his statement, Abbott said, “I thank TDHCA for working to ensure that Texans across the state have access to the best affordable housing options through the Housing Tax Credit Program. These awards will help developers and housing agencies make much-needed improvements to affordable housing units and offer affordable rent prices to Texas families and Texans in need. Through programs like these, we can create an even brighter future with greater opportunities for all Texans.”

HTCs are expected to help finance 37 new properties totaling 2,153 units, rehabilitate 15 properties, and support the adaptive reuse of two existing properties in Dallas and Abilene.

The at-risk set-aside, totaling more than $16 million for the 2023 cycle, will be used for the rehabilitation or reconstruction of aging housing developments that could soon lose rental subsidies provided to their low-income residents. Financing will allow applicants to develop eight properties housing elderly Texans (age 55 or older) and five properties targeted for the general population.

George Soros bankrolls new organization focused on flipping Texas to Democrats

George Soros has provided $750,000 to the Texas Majority PAC, so far this year. The Texas Majority PAC is focused on supporting Democratic candidates across the state, and Soros is the primary funder.

The majority of their funding has gone to consulting and political research, in addition to a $20,000 donation to the Texas Democratic Party.

Texas Majority is a new organization just recently incorporated in December 2022, their website doesn’t give many details behind the organization other than:

• “Texas Majority PAC is a project dedicated to electing a Democrat to statewide office in Texas. We are conducting research to understand what it will take to win the state.”

Soros has donated eye popping amounts in several Texas elections including $1 million to Beto O’Rourke in his 2022 quest to unseat Governor Greg Abbott. He’s also spent millions on public safety elections in support of progressive District Attorney’s in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and more.

While there isn’t much information about this new group, it is an interesting strategic move by Soros and may serve as a vehicle for more out of state funding in support of Texas Democratic candidates. We’ll see what we can learn about the logistics behind the organization.