By the time the dust had settled in the 1996 district attorney’s race, the candidates had spent a combined total of nearly half a million dollars on their campaigns, with incumbent Democrat Ronnie Earle shutting out Republican opponent Shane Phelps. This time around, the same candidates are devoting what little time they have left before the election to trying to raise enough cash to take to the airwaves. And it’s that last-minute fundraising that sometimes makes all the difference.
For now, it’s too soon to tell whether the D.A.’s race will mirror the high-dollar contest of four years ago. At any rate, Earle has the financial edge, with nearly $150,000 raised this year, through the end of September. Many of Earle’s contributors — made up of Austin’s rich, powerful, and influential — have made large-sum payments. Additionally, Earle had two fundraisers scheduled for October, one hosted by the mayor and another hosted by Asian business leaders.
Phelps had raised just under $100,000 during the same nine-month period. Interestingly enough, he had fared far better on the ’96 fundraising tour, with nearly a third of his contributions — more than $100,000 — from the Associated Republicans of Texas PAC. ART is much more invested in legislative races this election year, and with much of its big money going into the House and Senate contests, Phelps has gotten only a $5,000 piece of the statewide PAC pie thus far.
Phelps struck gold on the home front, though, with a couple of local PACs coming through for their candidate. The Austin Republican Women’s Club kicked in $5,000, and the Lake Travis Republican PAC gave about $4,500. Phelps also has two prominent anti-light rail individuals on his side, with Gerald Daugherty contributing about $1,500 and James Skaggs chipping in $5,000.
Earle’s contributors’ filings read like a “Who’s Who” of Austin’s elite in political, legal, and tech circles around town. The $5,000 donors include lobbyists such as Public Strategies‘ principal owner Jack Martin and tech honchos such as light rail backer and former Vignette chief Ross Garber. While lobbyist Neal “Buddy” Jones, co-owner of HillCo Partners, is perhaps better known of late for hosting a fundraiser for GOP Land Commissioner David Dewhurst, he’s also a $1,000 contributor to Earle’s campaign.
On the PAC beat, Earle has picked up a couple grand from the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and $1,250 from the AFL-CIO. As an interesting aside, one of Earle’s Democratic opponents in 1996, Joe James Sawyer, wrote him a $500 check this year. Among Sawyer’s clients is one of the three indicted suspects in the 1990 yogurt shop murder case. The first trial is scheduled to start in January.
Notable Contributors
Ronnie EarleTommy Jacks, former pres., Texas Trial Lawyers Assn., $5,000
Lee Walker and Jennifer Vickers, Capital Metro Board chair, $5,000
Ross Garber, former Vignette chief, $5,000
Jack Martin, Public Strategies owner, $5,000
Jan Lindelow, Tivoli Systems chief, $3,000
Robin Rather and David Murray, tech business owner and guitarist, $2,000
Roy Spence, GSD&M chief, $2,000
Dick Brown, developer lobbyist, $1,000
Shane Phelps
Doug Sandvig, Houston resident, $10,000
James Skaggs, anti-light rail leader, $5,000
Associated Republicans of Texas PAC, $5,000
Lake Travis Republican PAC, $4,500
J. Virgil Waggoner, Houston philanthropist and JVW Investments chief, $1,000
Karl Rove, chief strategist for Bush campaign, $500
Peter Flawn, UT president emeritus, $250
This article appears in October 20 • 2000.
