A political action committee funded largely by the racetrack and slot machine industries (that mostly placed safe bets during the 2006 election cycle) is upping the ante considerably this year.
According to documents on file with the Texas Ethics Commission, Texans for Economic Development doled out nearly $850,000 in political expenditures during the first eight months of 2008 for TV commercials, legal expenses and direct donations to state House and Senate candidates from both parties.
That puts the group at No. 5 in expenditures among all non-candidate PACs so far this cycle and is well over five times what the organization spent on politics in '06, when most of its candidate contributions came in increments of $1,000 and $2,500 that arrived in the days and weeks after the November elections.
"When someone or some group suddenly shows an interest in putting up that kind of money, it tells me that they're planning to make a pretty big push for their issues in the upcoming legislative session," said longtime lobbyist and consultant Bill Miller, who's not affiliated with the group that goes by the nickname TED. "They want to be seen as players."
Their issue is passing legislation that would allow pari-mutuel tracks — and perhaps other venues — to install Vegas-style slot machines often called video lottery terminals, or VLTs. The machines would generate much-needed revenue to boost the profitability of the tracks and the horse industry as a whole while pumping a fresh infusion of cash into the state treasury.
Andrew Wheat of the follow-the-money watchdog group Texans for Public Justice said that even though TED may be raising its profile with its cash contributions this cycle, the players behind the group have been in the game for quite some time.
Among TED's large contributors are LaMantia family of South Texas, which owns interest in an under-construction track in Hidalgo County; Maxxam Inc., which owns Sam Houston Race Park and Valley Race Park; and Tillman Fertitta, the owner of the Landry's restaurant chain who also has interests in Las Vegas casinos.
"These guys have been pushing for VLTs and other gaming session after session without a lot of success," Wheat said. "So it shouldn't surprising that they're going to try again under a fancy new name."
TED's heightened interest in statehouse politics surfaced during the primary season when it put out TV ads in three high-profile races involving incumbent Republicans. The move cost them, both on the political and public relations side.
Two of the three incumbents —Phil King of Weatherford and Betty Brown of Terrell — beat back the challenges of the TED-back challengers. Doug Miller, who had the support of TED against New Braunfels Republican Nathan Macias, won a razor-thin victory in the primary.
The internecine dust-up in the primaries also prompted veteran GOP consultant Reggie Bashur to end his association with the Texas Horseman's Project, which had been a member of TED. The two groups have since parted ways altogether. The spinoff helped form Texas HORSE — a group with gaming ambitions of its own, covered here last month [1].
In several other primary races, TED's involvement was more subtle and came mostly in the form of cash contributions. The results show a split decision. Democratic Reps. Kevin Bailey of Houston and Juan Escobar of Kingsville received $30,000 and $25,000 respectively from TED and went down to defeat.
Democratic Reps. Kino Flores of Mission and Aaron Peña of Edinburg, and Republican Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, each received $20,000 from the group and defeated their challengers.
So far in the general election campaign, TED's reported contributions have been mostly in the "safe bet" category. Democratic Sens. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, Juan Hinojosa of McAllen, Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio and Judith Zaffirini of Laredo have each received $10,000. So have Republicans Chris Harris of Arlington and Kel Seliger of Amarillo.
All are heavily favored to win re-election in November.
— by John Moritz