Christmas
cards
were all over the walls and on councilmembers’ desks, stamped with the
signature of consulting firms or engineering companies. There were boxes of
fresh gourmet cookies, hand-delivered to each office courtesy of the law firm
of Bickerstaff, Heath, & Smiley. Strasburger & Price,
Freeport-McMoRan’s representative in zoning cases, gave each councilmember a
brass-wire candleholder. Paul Bury, of Bury and Pittman, the company that
helped design Freeport’s PUD, gave bottles of white wine. It was the week
before Christmas, and councilmembers have lots of friends when the spirit of
giving is in the air.
So why let the spirit die? Down at city hall, it’s always Christmas. This
year, talk will resurface of a $30 million Palmer Auditorium retrofit, a new
$100 million City Hall, and of course, a fire-sale of the city’s $1.2 billion
electric utility. The list goes on and on, so it’s no wonder councilmembers are
so popular.
Here’s a summary of the contributor and expense reports from the latter half
of 1995. Look for many of these names on various wish lists later in the year.
Mayor Bruce Todd
Contributions: $41,982Expenditures: $ 38,543
Total Contributions, 1995: $54,317
Notable Expenditures: A payment of $4,593.75 to consultant Don Martin on
December 31 for 1994 campaign work. Martin is also on the payroll of Texas
Utilities, the electric company interested in buying the city’s utility. The
mayor supports a sale of the utility.
Money from Development Interests: Entrecorp, founded by former Texas legislator
Ben Barnes, $2,500; Doyle Wilson, homebuilder, $125; W & G Partnership,
founded by Clayton Williams, $500; Bailie Griffith, of Griffith Properties, and
Jackie Goodman’s appointment to the Airport Advisory Board, $250; Lozano Ortiz
& Kent Consulting Engineers, $125; S.A. Garza, engineer, $125; Baldwin
Interests, Robert Baldwin III, homebuilder, $1,000; Bury & Pittman
Ventures, Engineering Partnership, $500; Gerald Kucera, real-estate developer
with Kucera Company, $1,250; Jack Garey, Garey Construction Company, $250;
Morton Crockett, M.H. Crockett Properties, Inc., $500.
Money from PACS & Law Firms: Freeport’s Texas Horizons PAC, $1,000; Mayor
Day Caldwell & Keeton PAC, $500; BM & OH ELECTO-PAC, $2,500; Brown
McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, law firm, $2,500; Austin Apartment Association
PAC, $500; Austin Police PAC, $500; Southern Union Co. PAC, $500; Vinson &
Elkins Texas PAC, $1,000; Bickerstaff, Heath, & Smiley, $1,000; RECA Good
Government PAC, $1,000; Ironworkers State COPE fund, $500; Locke, Purnell,
Rain, Harrell PAC, $1,000; Texas Real Estate PAC, $175; Franklin Federal
Bancorp PAC, $250; Howard Falkenberg, Staats, Falkenberg & Partners,
$250; Calame Linebarger Graham & Pena, law firm, $500; Wright &
Greenhill, PC, law firm, $250; Drenner & Stuart, LLP, law firm, $250.
Other Notable Contributors: Former Austin mayor and current beer distributor
Roy Butler of Capitol Beverage, $250; Shannon Ratliff, McGinnis, Lochridge, and
Kilgore, $250; Ramada Inn South President Sheng-Ting Chen, $1,000; Leslie
Canter, investor, $1,000; Sarah Weddington, attorney for nuclear waste
industries, $75; Dan Bullock, executive director, St. David’s Health Care
Foundation, $250; James Cochran, part owner and manager of Austin News Agency,
$250; Frank Phillips, auto dealer, Centex Nissan, $250; Barada Sama, Gebhard
Sarma Group, $250; Katherine Bennett Ray, Ray Associates, $250; Robert Huang,
importer & exporter, Forward Trade, Inc., $1,000, Bobby Ray Inman, $250;
Robert Gregory, Texas Disposal Systems, $250; Craig Smith, Sierra Club, $125;
political consultant Jo Anne Christian, $250; Charles Butt, Chairman and
President, HEB, $500, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, $125; Barry Mayer, Tokyo
Electron of America, $1,000; Charles Nash, $500.
Ronney Reynolds
Contributions: $19,959Expenditures: $23,334
Total Contributions, 1995: $19,959
Money from Development Interests: Entrecorp, $250; Dan Davidson, Real Estate
Development, Tree Farming, $250; Charles Dixon, Real Estate Brokerage, CB
Commercial, $250; Morton Crockett, $250; Steve Tucker, Benchmark Development,
$250; Sanford Gottesman, The Gottesman Company, $250; Ray Wilkerson, Ray
Wilkerson Companies, $100; Christopher Heidrick, President of Hilman
Constructors, Inc., $250; engineer J. Thomas Joyce, Cook-Joyce, Inc., $250;
S.A. Garza, Garza engineers, $100; Terry Mitchell, Milburn Homes, $100;
architect Matthew Kreisle, Page Southerland Page, $250.
Money from PACs and Law Firms: Small Craig & Werkenthin PAC, $250; Bank
One, Texas N.A., Good Government Committee, $200; Austin Association of
Professional Firefighters PAC, $250; Hughes & Luce Committee for Good
Government, $250; attorney J. Gaylord Armstrong, McGinnis, Lochridge &
Kilgore, $250; Texas Association of Realtors PAC, $250; Girling PAC, $250;
attorney Bill Bingham, McGinnis, Lochridge, & Kilgore, $100.
Other Notable Contributors: Roy Butler, $100; Gary Farmer, Heritage Title
Company of Austin, $250; Former UT football coach Darrell Royal, $100; Joseph
Longaro, $100; consultant Don Martin, Don Martin Public Affairs, $25; Lawana C.
Murphy, Hotel General Manager, Inn Home America, $250; F. Scott LaGrone, Senior
VP of Radian Corporation, $250; Rev. Marvin Griffin, Ebenezer Baptist Church,
$100; Beverly Griffith, property manager for Griffith Properties, and member of
Texas Advocates for Parks, $250; attorney and city hall lobbyist Terrence
Irion, $25; Sandra Heimsath, wife of architect and Citizens’ Planning Committee
Chair Ben Heimsath, $50; David Stevens, Regional Vice President, Southern Union
Gas, $250.
Jackie Goodman
Contributions: $2,305Expenditures: $3,067
Total Contributions, 1995: $33,208
Notable Expenditures: Texas Abortion Rights Action League, $250; South Austin
Democrats, $50.
Notable Contributors: Robert Gregory, President, Texas Disposal Systems, $250;
Balie Griffith, Griffith Properties, $250; Wright & Greenhill, PC, $100;
Ironworkers State COPE fund, $500; Jonathon Beall, Save Barton Creek
Association, $50; Former Councilmember Smoot Carl-Mitchell, currently of Texas
Internet Consultants, $250; Ben Heimsath, Citizens’ Planning Committee Chair,
and architect with Clovis Heimsath Architects, $200; Sandra Heimsath, wife of
Ben Heimsath, $200.
n
Councilmembers Gus Garcia, Max Nofziger, Eric Mitchell, and Brigid Shea, did
not raise money during this period.
n
This week in council: Nofziger’s tree ordinance and the drainage fee abatement
proposal come back for a vote.
This article appears in February 2 • 1996 and February 2 • 1996 (Cover).