Which side is the Leininger 5 on?
2/27/2006 4:31 PM
By: Harvey Kronberg
News 8 AustinIn recent weeks, I have reported the effort funded almost exclusively by a San Antonio physician to beat five Republican House members who have opposed vouchers.
As his defenders will quickly point out, Dr. James Leininger's financial largesse has all but eliminated the name identification and fundraising advantages typically enjoyed by in bents over challengers which lead to more compe ive elections.
My problem is that the campaign model developed and used to elect the Leininger 5 undermines the challengers' claims that they can represent their districts.
Most press accounts have simply reported that the San Antonio physician has contributed 93-94 percent of the total dollars used to run these five campaigns.
It’s been reported that a doctor is funding five legislative challengers in the Republican primary, and Harvey Kronberg saysvhe's worried about this approach.
What they don't report is that Leininger's PAC does not actually give money to the campaigns. They spend it on behalf of the campaigns. According to these Ethics Commission reports, it is the PAC that does the media buys, the printing, the mail, the radio and television commercial production, the polling, the message development and everything else that goes into a modern campaign.
The candidates themselves never even get to touch the money that drives their campaign. They say they sign off on everything before it is put in play, but frankly, I am dubious that they are anything more than rubber stamps for the Leininger PAC efforts.
It all inspires the simple question. If the Leininger 5 are elected and are forced to pick sides on a controversial piece of legislation, will they represent their districts or Leininger? Who gets their call returned first, a major employer or Chamber of Commerce executive back home or Leininger?
A good legislator is always trying to resolve competing interests between philosophy and the real needs of their cons uents. If the Leininger model prevails, that balancing act is gone.
We all decry the fundraising and special interest money that are a key part of politics. But the truth is that having to raise money connects candidates to the people they represent. Eliminate fundraising from multiple sources and you have severed an important link between the elected official and the people back home.
Big contributors have always dominated political campaigns. But it is something new for one individual to simply buy campaigns. That is truly troublesome.
More from the Express-News:
My SAThe donations amounted to $182,911 for Nathan Macias, an opponent of Casteel; $166,528 for Mark Williams, an opponent of Merritt; $160,668 for Wayne Christian, an opponent of Blake; $130,158 for Van Wilson, an opponent of Jones; and $50,385 for Chris Hatley, an opponent to Geren.
Bill Crocker of Austin, one of the state's two members of the Republican National Committee, said he founded the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee in October to go after "liberal Republicans" in the Legislature.
The committee has endorsed opponents of the five targeted Republican in bents, who Crocker said have been "betraying the very Republicans who put them in office."
Casteel said she was looking out for taxpayers when she opposed a pilot voucher program that Leininger supported.
"Those voucher dollars have to be accounted for, and that bill didn't provide for that," she told The Dallas Morning News.
Casteel said the donations to beat her were "a little bit daunting," but that she wouldn't back down.
"My mother would be rolling in her grave if she thought I was intimidated by someone who is trying to buy a (House) seat," she said.
Adam Bell, political director for Macias, who is challenging Casteel, said Macias "is his own man," regardless of the donations.
"They're implying that my candidate is owned, that he's beholden to doing whatever Dr. Leininger wants. That is not the case," Bell said.
The donations averaged out to $138,000 for each challenger.
Bryan Eppstein, a Republican political consultant from Fort Worth, said the average House candidate's primary campaign costs $75,000 to $150,000 in suburban and urban markets. Rural campaigns can cost more, from $100,000 to $200,000 per candidate, he said.
How do you buy campaigns without paying voters? Leiningers PAC has a lot more than just one person supporting it's efforts. Literally several million people in this state support Leininger and what he's trying to accomplish. He just has the money to help us get our message out.
If, and this is a big IF, that many people really support school vouchers then they should pool their money and efforts to elect candidates that openly support this position, but none of the candidates sponsored by Leininger have come out and openly supported school vouchers because they know that even most conservatives would not agree with them. It is very inappropriate and unethical for one rich San Antonio millionare to try and influence the TX political system just because Texans are too stupid to pass campaign finance laws to limit state and local political contributions.
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