Now that the dust has settled on the 2012 elections, the Texas Tribune took a swing through those totally legal, not-at-all anti-democratic Super PACs. Specifically, the Tribune looked at how Texas residents managed to donate more than $100 million to them this election cycle:
Texas donors provided more than $100 million to Super PACs. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who donated $22.2 million, makes up nearly one-fifth of that total. Perry’s largest single recipient was the Romney-supporting Restore Our Future, which received $10.7 million. Perry also gave $7.5 million to the pro-GOP American Crossroads. Another fifth of that total came from Dallas billionare Harold Simmons, who by name and through his company Contran Corporation gave a combined $25.6 million. Like Perry, much of this went to one group, American Crossroads, which received $19.5 million from Simmons.
In a fantastic, beautiful interactive feature, the Tribune broke it all down. Here’s the Cliffs Notes version, focusing just on Dallas-Fort Worth money. I probably missed some folks.
American Crossroads
Harold Simmons- $17.5 million
Robert Rowling– $2.5 million
TRT Holdings (Rowling’s company)- $2.5 million
Contran Corporation (Simmons’ company)- $2 million
T. Boone Pickens- $1 million
Marcus Hiles- $505,000
Al Hill- $500,000
Restore Our Future, Inc.
Harold Simmons- $2.3 million
John Kleinheinz- $1 million
Crow Holdings- $650,000
Trammell Crow- $500,000
James Wikert- $200,000
Andrew Beal- $200,000
Texas Conservatives Fund
Harold Simmons- $1.1 million
Jan Rees-Jones– $200,000
Make Us Great Again, Inc.
Contran Corporation- $1 million
Brint Ryan– $250,000
Kelcy Warren- $250,000
Darwin Deason– $250,000
Marcus Hiles- $200,000
Donald Carter- $200,000
There are 16 other Super PACs in the Tribune piece; enjoy them with your family over Thanksgiving dinner!
