Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Campaign Finance’ Category

The Game of Thrones (or Texas Politics)

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged , , , , , on April 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

By Michael Tahmoressi, St. Edwards student and Public Citizen intern Texas can be characterized as a pay to play environment.  Politicians bend to their districts business interests and gubernatorial appointees seem to be selected based on the amounts they contribute to the governor. Contributions Equal Access and Appointments Rick Perry has taken this to a [...]

Read Full Post »

It’s Time to Beef Up Texas’ Ethics Watchdog

Posted in Campaign Finance, Consumers, Good Government, tagged , , on March 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Statement by Tom “Smitty” Smith, Director of the Texas office of Public Citizen It’s time to unshackle Texas’ ethics watchdog and give it some teeth. A recent study by the  Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity found that when it comes to government openness and accountability, Texas ranks in the lower half of [...]

Read Full Post »

Political favors – how to stop it from ruining your community

Posted in Campaign Finance, Sunset, tagged , , , on November 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to the Texas Energy Report, state environmental regulators appointed by Gov. Rick Perry issued a permit in January for a Houston-area industrial waste injection well to a company whose top investors include some of Perry’s close friends and campaign contributors. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved the permit over the objections of [...]

Read Full Post »

Why Does Rice play Texas?: climate change, EPA smog rules, TarSands pipeline, drought/fires edition

Posted in Air Quality, Campaign Finance, Climate Change, Coal, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, Tarsands, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »

The wildfires, Obama’s cave-in on the EPA’s smog rules, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline protests, Hurricane Irene, and our continued drought and economic malaise puts into focus several things that have been ruminating in my head all weekend, and it all comes back to this one question– Why does Rice play Texas? And how does this relate to clean air, climate change, and a switch to a clean energy economy?

Read Full Post »

Strange but true tale from the world of Texas politics

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , on August 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Leave it to Texans for Public Justice to bring us another strange but true tale from the world of Texas lobbyists. A well known Texas lobbyist was recently caught writing himself unauthorized checks out of a client’s political committee.  That in and of itself is not strange, wrong, but not strange.  The strange part is [...]

Read Full Post »

This is the dawning of the age of the super PAC

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , , , on August 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It is looking like the 2012 election will be dominated by the Super PAC.  If you thought your voice counted for little before, check out this MSNBC story on the new powerhouse super PAC called “Make Us Great Again” which, while claiming it is independent, just launched a website filled with photos of Rick Perry [...]

Read Full Post »

2010 PAC Spending Jumps 12 Percent

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged , on August 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to a new report by Texans for Public Justice (TPJ), a record 1,302 active Texas political action committees (PACs) spent $133 million in the two-year 2010 election cycle, a 12 percent increase from the 2008 cycle.  Over the past decade Texas PACs increased their spending nearly three-fold and the number of active PACs grew [...]

Read Full Post »

“The Rick Perry Primer”

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , , on July 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Review Highlights of a Decade of Texans for Public Justice’s Perry-related Research Texas Governor Rick Perry is unknown to much of America.  Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) has followed this politician since he became governor in late 2000, publishing numerous reports on Perry’s politics and policies.  With talk of a Perry presidential campaign escalating, “The [...]

Read Full Post »

FEC approves Colbert SuperPAC – hilarity AND sadness to ensue?

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Stephen Colbert and the FEC squared off today in Washington over the fake news anchor’s SuperPAC request. Colbert testified today in an FEC hearing in which he sought a media exemption so he can form his own Super political action committee. The Comedy Central host has been making fun of campaign finance laws for months [...]

Read Full Post »

Bob Perry Donates to Multiple Presidential Hopefuls

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

With the 2012 presidential race heating up, candidates have begun to boast about their high-profile donors. In particular, Texas millionaire Bob Perry has been a significant contributor to both Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney’s campaigns.  It is not uncommon for big donors to give to multiple campaigns, explains Alexander Burns in his Politico article, but [...]

Read Full Post »

Austin Taxi Industry Influences City Council Race

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Although the taxi cab industry in Austin is not often considered a power player in politics, individuals, top executives and owners have spent thousands of dollars in this city council election cycle. In particular, the election for the Austin City Council Place 3 seat has seen substantial amounts of money flow into it from the [...]

Read Full Post »

State Senator Attempts to Get Rid of His Own Amendment

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , on June 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Texas State Senator Mike Jackson added an amendment to the ethics bill (HB 1616) only 48 hours before the regular session ended and seems to be regretting that decision.  Now he wants Gov. Rick Perry to veto his own legislation.  The amendment was written so that candidates would have been able to expunge from their [...]

Read Full Post »

Shareholders Fight Back Against Citizens United

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, tagged , , , on June 9, 2011 | 1 Comment »

In a shareholder meeting yesterday, Target executives addressed growing concerns over political actions of the company as well as performance. Shareholders were upset over the $150,000 donation to Minnesota Forward, which is a political group that backed Tom Emmer as a gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota in 2010. Emmer is an opponent of same-sex marriage and [...]

Read Full Post »

Money and Politics Going Hand in Hand

Posted in Campaign Finance, Good Government, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2011 | 1 Comment »

In a recent NPR show, former Labor Secretary and political commentator Robert Reich addressed the potential executive order by President Obama to require government contractors to disclose their political spending. Reich wants to take the executive order a step farther by eliminating all political contributions from government contractors. Reich explains that contractors such as Lockheed [...]

Read Full Post »

Noisier, Nastier, and Costlier Elections

Posted in Campaign Finance, tagged , , on April 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Most folks outside of Wisconsin and the Washington beltway were not paying much attention to that state’s recent state supreme court justice election, but in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision this election was a study in what judicial elections have evolved into — a trend of “noisier, nastier and costlier” elections [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 32 other followers