Behold, Austin, the fruits of campaign finance reform: Wealthy candidates pay to put their own commercials on the air. Millionaire Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson outspends Danny Thomas in Thomas’ own election campaign. And everyone who spends big, wins big, eclipsing — if not erasing — the promise of 1997’s campaign finance overhaul.

Meanwhile, voter turnout remains abysmally low, at 8.97% just a hair above 1997’s record low of 8.36%. The message? Money talks, but so do votes, and turnout in one area of the city — say, Circle C, where a stunning number of registered voters showed up to vote for Will Wynn, Kirk Watson, and Danny Thomas — can make the difference between a close election and a geographically skewed landslide.

This article appears in May 12 • 2000.

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