Texas PACS: A Roundup of the Special Interests Driving Texas' Political Action Committees

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Miscellaneous Business

This catch-all category for miscellaneous, private-sector business PACs contains 66 PACs that account for four percent of all PAC spending.

Twenty food and beverage PACs spent 58 percent of the PAC money in this category. Just six food and beverage PACs, most of which represent alcohol-serving interests, supplied 78 percent of the money in this subcategory.

Misc. Business PACs	Expenditures '95-'97	% of Total	PAC #
Food & Beverage	$1,303,836	58%	20
Misc. Services	$481,654	21%	20
Chambers/Business Boosters	$290,114	13%	10
Misc. Manufacturing & Retail	$182,059	8%	16
Total	$2,257,663	100%	66

The Texas Restaurant Association, which has a big stake in alcohol sales, led with $301,526 in expenditures. Two Wholesale Beer Distributor PACs poured in $293,155, with the Licensed Beverage Distributors spending another $145,244. Two Coca-Cola PACs supplied the mixers to the tune of $280,305.

Miscellaneous Services
Twenty miscellaneous business service PACs accounted for 21 percent of all spending by miscellaneous business PACs, with just five PACs spending 72 percent of the money in this subcategory.

Houston-based Service Corp. International (SCI), the world’s largest funeral home chain, overshadowed this group with $130,773 in PAC expenditures. In 1998, Texas Funeral Service Commission agents raided SCI funeral homes, reporting that they encountered evidence of illegal embalming by unlicensed personnel at unlicensed locations. After the raid, SCI personnel solicited dirt on Commission Director Eliza May from her acquaintances. Around the same time, Commission staff received death threats and someone attempted to break into the Commission office.²⁴ A board subcommittee recommended a record $450,000 fine against the company in the dispute, which is in mediation. Other PACs reaching beyond the grave included the Texas Funeral Directors Association ($47,920) and the Texas Cemeteries Political Action Fund ($10,750).

Additional big spenders in the miscellaneous service sector include:

The Hotel PAC ($65,245);
Gambling interests—led by Gulf Greyhound Partners ($57,500) and the Texas Quarter Horse Association ($44,831);
The Texas Association for Interior Design ($25,920); and
The Texas Alliance of Recreational Organizations, the political putter of country clubs ($22,250).

**Top 20 Miscellaneous Business PACs**
Total	PAC/Sponsor	Subcategory
$301,526	TX Restaurant Assoc.	Food & Beverage
$293,155	Wholesale Beer Distributors of TX (2 PACs)	Food & Beverage
$280,305	Coca-Cola (2 PACs)	Food & Beverage
$145,244	Licensed Beverage Distributors	Food & Beverage
$130,773	Service Corp. International	Misc. Services
$125,100	TX Assoc. of Business and Commerce	Business Boosters
$86,864	Cortez PAC	Food & Beverage
$75,075	TX Package Stores Assoc.	Food & Beverage
$65,245	Hotel PAC	Misc. Services
$57,500	Gulf Greyhound (dog racing)	Misc. Services
$56,229	Beer Wholesalers of Harris County	Food & Beverage
$47,920	Texas Funeral Directors Assoc.	Misc. Services
$44,831	Texas Quarter Horse Assoc.	Misc. Services
$40,000	Greater Houston Assoc.	Business Boosters
$39,320	TX Retailers Assoc.	Misc. Retail & Mfg.
$34,384	Dayton Hudson Corp.	Misc. Retail & Mfg.
$26,948	San Antonio PAC	Business Boosters
$25,920	TX Assoc. for Interior Design	Misc. Services
$22,250	TX Alliance of Recreational Organizations	Misc. Services
$21,345	International Franchise Assoc.	Business Boosters

Chambers & Business Boosters
Ten broad-based business booster groups spent 13 percent of miscellaneous business dollars. The biggest spender was the Texas Association of Business and Commerce (now the Texas Association of Business and Chambers of Commerce), which spent $125,100. Two metropolitan business boosters, the Greater Houston Association ($40,000) and the San Antonio PAC ($26,948) came next. Both the Franchising PAC and the National Federation of Independent Business each spent a little more than $20,000.

Miscellaneous Manufacturing
Finally, 16 manufacturing and retail PACs spent 8 percent of the miscellaneous business money. The Texas Retailers Association led with $39,320. Dayton Hudson, which owns Target and Mervyn’s stores, spent another $34,384; Southland Corp., which owns 7-11 convenience stores, spent $21,056.

of special interest

Wining and Dining the Lege

Restaurant and alcohol interests have slugged it out in recent years with such groups as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which has lobbied in Texas and Washington to lower the legal blood-alcohol level. Republican leaders killed such a bill in the U.S. House in April 1998, arguing that such laws should be left to the states. When the issue came up in the Texas Legislature in 1997, Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, ran it down in a parliamentary hit and run. Although Lucio’s campaign imbibed $8,500 in liquor-industry PAC money prior to that session, the border-area Senator offered a cultural explanation for his actions. “I come from a district where we have a lot of get-togethers,” he said.²⁵ Evidently, the MADD moms, not Sen. Lucio, were on the anti-family side of this issue.

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