News Release

Austin, TX: Two state senators and 27 state representatives elected in November failed to file campaign contribution and expenditure reports in the Internet-accessible electronic format required by Texas’ 1999 Electronic Disclosure Law. Taking advantage of loopholes, these horse-and-buggy Luddites forced over $3 million in political contributions off the information superhighway.  The 27 Luddite representatives comprise 18 percent of all House members.

“It’s time to upload the Luddites into the computer age,” said Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald.  “There is no excuse for candidates who raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to hide behind loopholes in the reporting laws.  If these legislators don’t know how to use a computer, they should hire a middle-school student to help them out.”

Rep. Talmadge Heflin is the Luddite who raised the most money ($310,641), followed by Sen. Mario Gallegos ($250,368), and freshman Rep. John Mabry ($222,148). Sen. Jon Lindsay ($186,361) was the only other Senate Luddite. Despite the fact that Republicans wield a majority in both the House and Senate, Democrats accounted for 66 percent of all Luddite lawmakers.  Twenty-one of the legislators who failed to file electronic reports are returning incumbents who also failed to file electronically in the 2000 campaign cycle.  Seven of the 29 Luddites are newly elected House members.  One of the 29, Yvonne Davis, who raised only $11,100 in the 2002 cycle, had filed one electronic report in her 2000 campaign.

The two major parties also fielded 66 failed legislative candidates who did not file electronic campaign reports. Meanwhile, just one major-party winner of a statewide office shirked electronic filing (Luddite Steven Smith funded a successful Supreme Court campaign with $38,465 in donations and loans).

Barring electronic disclosure, campaign data just get filed on paper at the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) in Austin. Texas’ 1999 electronic-filing law requires candidates for legislative and statewide office to file electronic campaign disclosure reports that the TEC posts on the Internet, making it instantly available anywhere. Loopholes in the law, however, allow candidates to dodge electronic disclosure if they sign affidavits claiming that:

1. They do not intend to raise or spend more than $20,000 a year; or
2. Neither they nor their agents use computers to track campaign finances.

Nonetheless, all but two out of 29 Lone Star Luddite legislators raised more than $20,000, with 13 raising more than $100,000. Twenty of the 66 Luddites who lost their legislative races raised more than $20,000.

A complete list of the 29 Luddite Lawmakers and 66 Luddite Losers follows:
 

Luddite Lawmakers

Twenty-nine Texas legislators who raised more than $3 million failed to file electronic campaign contribution and expenditure reports for the 2002 election cycle. These Luddite lawmakers included just two senators: Mario Gallegos and Jon Lindsay. The powerful new Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Talmadge Heflin, raised more money ($310,641) than any other Luddite lawmaker. Democrats accounted for 66 percent of all Luddite lawmakers despite the fact that Republicans wield a majority in both the House and Senate.
 

Legislator	Amount Raised	Party	Dist.	Home
SENATE
*Mario V. Gallegos	$250,368	D	S-6	Galena Park
*Jon Lindsay	$186,361	R	S-7	Houston
HOUSE
*Talmadge L. Heflin	$310,641	R	H-149	Houston
John Mabry	$222,148	D	H-56	Waco
*Jim Pitts	$169,224	R	H-10	Waxahachie
Joaquin Castro	$165,946	D	H-125	San Antonio
*Jim Dunnam	$161,830	D	H-57	Waco
*Kevin Bailey	$138,615	D	H-140	Houston
*Rene O. Oliveira	$131,586	D	H-37	Brownsville
*Delwin L. Jones	$131,420	R	H-83	Lubbock
*Ruth Jones McClendon	$125,564	D	H-120	San Antonio
*Ruben Hope	$122,850	R	H-16	Conroe
*Joe Crabb	$105,021	R	H-127	Kingwood
*Robert E. Talton	$93,223	R	H-144	Pasadena
Roberto R. Alonzo	$91,556	D	H-104	Dallas
*G.E. 'Buddy' West	$79,890	R	H-81	Odessa
Bob E. Griggs	$78,546	R	H-91	North Richland Hills
Chente Quintanilla	$72,548	D	H-75	Tornillo
Gabi Canales	$67,704	D	H-35	Alice
*Harold V. Dutton Jr.	$61,590	D	H-142	Houston
*Paul C. Moreno	$61,330	D	H-77	El Paso
*Terri Hodge	$52,665	D	H-100	Dallas
*Joe Deshotel	$43,779	D	H-22	Port Arthur
*Al Edwards	$43,170	D	H-146	Houston
*Anna Mowery	$39,740	R	H-97	Fort Worth
*Ron Wilson	$31,600	D	H-131	Houston
Ryan Guillen	$29,574	D	H-31	Rio Grande City
*Roberto Gutierrez	$18,425	D	H-41	McAllen
*Yvonne Davis	$11,100	D	H-111	Dallas
TOTAL	$3,098,013

* Incumbent (all incumbents except Yvonne Davis were also Luddites in 2000)
 

Losing Luddites

The two major parties fielded 66 losing legislative candidates who failed to file electronic campaign contribution and expenditure reports in the 2002 election cycle. These losing Luddites raised more than $1.3 million. The losing Luddites included five failed Senate candidates, led by Mike Smith, whom new GOP Sen. Tommy Williams defeated in the general election. Former Rep. Gary Walker was the losing Luddite who raised the most money ($139,205). Redistricting pitted him against fellow incumbent Luddite Delwin Jones in the Republican primary.
 
 

Legislative Candidate	Amount Raised	Party	Dist.	Race Lost	% of Vote
SENATE
Mike Smith	$37,609	D	S-4	General	36%
Ronnie Ellen Harrison	$21,852	D	S-17	General	39%
Ruben M. Garcia	$13,300	D	S-20	Primary	6%
Jan Erik Frederiksen	$7,905	D	S-16	General	34%
Michael P. Wolfe	$1,150	R	S-15	General	40%
HOUSE
Gary L. Walker	$139,205	R	H-83	Primary	48%
Mack Dobbs	$109,964	D	H-61	General	31%
Judy Strickland	$87,949	R	H-85	General	35%
Ed Cyganiewicz	$74,865	R	H-43	General	38%
Steve Munisteri	$67,318	R	H-134	Primary	22%
Manny Najera	$56,226	D	H-75	Primary	45%
Robert Rankins	$54,398	R	H-70	Primary	17%
Greg Travis	$48,296	R	H-28	Primary	10%
Charles B. Creighton	$47,810	R	H-16	Primary	44%
Reggie Gonzales	$45,441	R	H-128	Primary	15%
Pearson Knolle	$43,080	D	H-35	Primary	36%
Jesse Quackenbush	$38,754	D	H-87	General	34%
Adolfo Campero, Jr.	$37,860	D	H-31	Primary	32%
Jean Killgore	$35,093	R	H-17	General	42%
Charles 'Doc' Anderson	$34,925	R	H-56	Primary	21%
Al Flores	$32,575	D	H-143	Primary	23%
Ken Cannata	$28,748	R	H-28	Primary	26%
Gary English	$21,731	D	H-1	Primary	36%
Charlie Nichols	$18,643	D	H-8	Primary	33%
Charles Luke	$18,590	R	H-60	Primary	26%
Tony Aguilar	$18,000	R	H-107	Primary	11%
Pedro 'Pete' Nieto	$17,962	R	H-74	General	29%
Jan Phillips	$17,225	R	H-8	Primary	40%
Andy Olivo	$16,027	R	H-103	General	29%
Joe Stunja	$14,125	R	H-127	Primary	21%
Kerry Williams	$11,278	R	H-15	Primary	16%
Larry Keilberg	$10,643	R	H-90	General	28%
Alma Zepeda	$10,615	D	H-148	Primary	33%
Joseph L. Sam	$9,123	R	H-109	General	25%
John J. Baker	$7,900	D	H-19	Primary	44%
Joe Hernandez	$7,415	R	H-104	General	26%
Dan Teafatiller	$7,170	R	H-1	General	38%
Judith A. Canales	$5,900	D	H-80	Primary	20%
Fred Lusk	$4,855	D	H-70	General	20%
Louis A. Vidaurri	$4,635	D	H-123	Primary	2%
Ben Martinez	$4,346	R	H-80	General	44%
Mark Brown	$4,186	R	H-72	Primary	7%
Jerry Trevino	$4,150	D	H-34	Primary	13%
Mike Gregory	$4,050	D	H-93	General	43%
Marcos De Leon	$4,000	D	H-51	Primary	18%
Kyle Johnston	$3,500	D	H-143	Primary	10%
Victor Rubalcaba	$2,850	D	H-43	Primary	26%
Anne M. Graham	$2,500	D	H-67	General	30%
Lehman Harris	$2,224	D	H-89	General	22%
Charles Cunningham	$1,815	R	H-150	Primary	5%
Dorothy M. Olmos	$1,710	D	H-143	Primary	20%
Greg Kauffman	$1,700	D	H-58	General	32%
Dan Chavez	$1,680	D	H-79	Primary	34%
Ron Lozano	$1,595	R	H-43	Primary	23%
Mickey Cooper	$1,201	R	H-2	Primary	8%
Fidel 'Ace' Acevedo	$1,000	D	H-50	Primary	39%
George West	$1,000	D	H-123	Primary	4%
Bill Pool	$810	D	H-51	Primary	5%
Eric H. Krebs	$700	D	H-135	General	30%
Andrew Pacetti	$570	R	H-49	General	23%
Cynthia Newman	$450	R	H-28	Primary	6%
Rick Ertell	$357	D	H-25	General	31%
Yolanda Guerrero	$350	D	H-84	General	31%
Mimi Coffey	$350	D	H-99	General	29%
Clara 'Betsy' Johnson	$25	D	H-72	Primary	42%
Michael Bunch	$25	R	H-134	Primary	1%
TOTAL	$1,333,304

 

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