Yeah, I know, everyone is talking about the large amount of money being raised and spent in the SD6 race but I’m not sure that people are seeing the whole picture. On the surface, Rep. Carol Alvarado outraised and outspent former Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia and most have certainly noted that. But the biggest difference is in the amount of cash raised by the two candidates when you take away the In-Kind donations that Garcia has reported.
Running the numbers from the day after the November election until the last day of the year, here is what it looks like:
So in hard cash, Alvarado outraised Garcia better than 2-1. I certainly didn’t expect that. In-kind contributions are notorious for being inflated. Obviously Alvarado is benefitting from her status as a sitting state legislator – the big money knows that she is going to have a vote whether she wins or loses. It looks like Garcia transferred about $550,000 from her old Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner campaign account, and should have another $130,000 or so to draw from if her fundraising doesn’t pick up.
Alvarado’s largest single contributor is the HILLCOPAC, which is largely funded by Republicans. See this report that Steve Miller and Mark Lisheron did a couple of years ago for Texas Watchdog to learn more about that PAC. She also received three $10,000 contributions from three different Lawal’s that list their employer as CAMAC Energy, Inc., a Nigerian oil and gas company. Interestingly, our old friend Lee P. Brown sits on the Board of Directors of CAMAC. Speaking of former Houston mayors, Bill White also gave Alvarado $10,000. Republican big-wig Bob Perry gave Alvarado $10,000 but that was back in August of last year, so it is not included in the numbers listed above.
Neither of the Republicans in the race raised or spent substantial money. What I don’t understand is why RW Bray’s report doesn’t list In-Kind donations from Raging Elephants. I get at least one email a day supporting his candidacy from the Apostle’s group, stating that it is a political ad paid for by Raging Elephants. The last few days, the Apostle has been begging people to get to HCRP headquarters for phone banking. Now, we already know that Raging Elephants doesn’t bother with filing campaign finance reports but if a miracle were to happen and Bray somehow sneaks into a runoff, he’s going to have some ‘splaining to do. I mean, someone is paying for all that phone banking they have going on out of the Harris County Republican Party headquarters. Right?
But after talking to Dorothy Olmos last week, I’m not so sure that Bray is going to sneak in or even get more votes than she will. She gave me a breakdown of the vote from November when both she and Bray were on the ballot. In common precincts, i.e., those precincts that had her on the ballot for the SBOE and Bray on the ballot for SD6, she received roughly 5,000 more votes than he did. And that advantage held in Republican precincts, those in which the R’s beat the D’s. She has a lot of name recognition in the East End, not only because she has run for office six times, but because of her family history there.
She asked me an interesting question, one that I could answer but won’t. She wants to know why the Harris County Republican Party is supporting a guy that relocated to Texas from New Orleans after Katrina, has no roots in the party or SD6, and refuses to support Gov. Perry or the budget that came out of the legislature in 2011, over her, noting that she has carried the Republican message in the East End for a decade. Why indeed.
So that’s the campaign finance picture in the SD6 race for today. It’ll change tomorrow when the eight day out reports are filed.
I thought Carol was a Democrat? The donor list for Carol is very interesting. I predict that Sylvia will win on January 26, Juaquin 2nd and Carol 3rd.
Big,
I did not vote for Mr. Bray for some of the reasons you listed. He is a Katrina transplant, which by itself is not a disqualifier, but I have never seen this guy show up for any of the “non” political events here on the East Side. His campaign effort so far appears to be evening time annoying Robo-Calls. Jerrod Woodfil is also doing Robo-Calls for his benefit.
A Republican can win over here, but he(she) is going to have press the flesh and show up from time to time. Robo-Calls and Webpages are not going to do the trick.
That said…my choice became Carol or Sylvia. Carol’s associations with Lee Brown and company is a real deal breaker for me. I went with Sylvia.
There was one other old grumpy white guy voting along with me last week and it looked like the election staff was fighting terminal boredom. I would have preffered a better turnout.
Simple
I think that I need to implement a “Like” button just for this comment, Simple! Nice analysis and exactly why I’ve been saying that R’s will vote for Sylvia.
Simple, I was concerned about your comment so I called Jared Woodfill. He told me that his robo call was for both candidates.
David,
I am sorry if I unfairly accused Jared, but I never give the Robo-Calls more than the attention needed to determine that it is a Robo-Call.
Only slightly worse are the Push_Polls that try to disguise themselves as polls, when they are in fact just cheezy political ads.
A Republican can win on the East Side, but he/she is going to have to put in a lot of shoe leather and visit a lot of Soccer and LIttle League Games. More importantly…A prospective candidate should listen to the voters over here and get behind policies that will help the good hard working folks of the East Side.
Simple
MEDIA ALERT
For Immediate Release
Susan Delgado
Candidate for Texas Senate District 6 Special Election
Susan Delgado, Candidate for Texas Senate District 6 Election to hold Press Conference at Criminal Courthouse steps. January 21,2012 @ 10:30 am at 1200 Travis, Houston, Texas.
She will be filing a Formal Criminal Complaint against:
Texas State Representative Carol Alvarado to the
District Attorney Mike Jackson’s Office
In Integrity Division
Reason: Susan Delgado’s Formal Complaint is for the Criminal Activity.
Conflict of Interest for Government Codes:
Sec. 572.056. CONTRACTS BY STATE OFFICERS WITH GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES; CRIMINAL OFFENSE. (a) A state officer may not solicit or accept from a governmental entity a commission, fee, bonus, retainer, or rebate that is compensation for the officer’s personal solicitation for the award of a contract for services or sale of goods to a governmental entity. CLASS A MISDEMEANOR
Sec. 572.052. REPRESENTATION BY LEGISLATORS BEFORE STATE AGENCIES; CRIMINAL OFFENSE. (a) A member of the legislature may not, for compensation, represent another person before a state agency in the executive branch of state government unless the representation: CLASS A MISDEMEANOR to FELONY.
State Representative worked for HISD,METRO and the Toll Road which are Political Subdivision of the State.
Also, State Representative Carol Alvarado has Represented Companies before State Agencies to Win Bids for State Contracts.
COPIES OF FORMAL COMPLAINTS WILL BE PROVIDED TO MEDIA.
*If found guilty she would be guilty of :
PENAL CODE
TITLE 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER 39. ABUSE OF OFFICE
Questions please call Susan Delgado or email [email protected]
(832)258-8232
If Susan Delgado wants her complaint to be taken seriously, a good place to start might be knowing that Mike Jackson is a former state senator and Mike Anderson is the sitting district attorney.