In my recap of a recent debate between the four candidates vying to replace outgoing Republican Party of Texas Chair Steve Munisteri, I said this about candidate Wade Emmert:
He (Emmert) said during the debate that he has raised over a million dollars for the Dallas County Republican Party but in reviewing the party’s campaign finance reports, I don’t see anything close to that.
I didn’t mean it as an exhaustive analysis, just that in a cursory glance at the Dallas County Republican Party’s state campaign finance reports, I didn’t think the amounts raised were particularly impressive. I used the party’s main state account because in my experience, that tends to be the best barometer of how a state party is doing financially. The federal account is full of transfers and money dedicated to federal races and can be a bit difficult to wade through with the format they use.
Emmert took exception to that statement and increased the amount he claimed to have raised to $1.5 million via email and in a comment on the post. In fairness to him and to try to verify his claim, I prepared a table of the party’s contributions during equal time periods before Emmert took office and after he took the reins as chair of the DCRP. The time periods were for 1,276 days before he took office and 1,279 days after he took office, from the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2014. There are three accounts to examine, two state and one federal.
You can click on the links above to find the reports. To save time on the Federal account, I used OpenSecrets.org’s data, which is compiled in two year election cycles. Here are the numbers:
| Dallas County Republican Party (P) – 00023868 | ||||
| Before Emmert Chair | After Emmert Chair | |||
| 07/15/08 | $11,000 | 01/15/12 | $2,100 | |
| 09/15/08 | $7,290 | 05/21/12 | $4,000 | |
| 01/15/09 | $5,250 | 09/17/12 | $1,650 | |
| 07/15/09 | $16,900 | 01/15/13 | $375 | |
| 07/15/10 | $12,500 | 07/15/13 | $14,950 | |
| 07/15/11 | $11,650 | 01/15/14 | $1,500 | |
| Total | $64,590 | 02/24/14 | $20,700 | |
| 07/15/14 | $4,214 | |||
| 09/14/14 | $600 | |||
| 01/15/15 | $14,700 | |||
| Total | $64,789 | |||
| Dallas County Republican Party (CEC) – 00027370 | ||||
| Before Emmert Chair | After Emmert Chair | |||
| 07/15/08 | $87,700 | 01/17/12 | $49,698 | |
| 10/06/08 | $48,278 | 04/30/12 | $60,369 | |
| 10/27/08 | $17,020 | 05/21/12 | $50 | |
| 01/15/09 | $23,318 | 07/16/12 | $100 | |
| 07/15/09 | $49,940 | 10/09/12 | $76,520 | |
| 01/15/10 | $29,600 | 10/29/12 | $11,675 | |
| 07/15/10 | $116,760 | 01/15/13 | $10,300 | |
| 10/04/10 | $92,682 | 07/15/13 | $54,535 | |
| 10/25/10 | $42,853 | 01/15/14 | $41,150 | |
| 01/18/11 | $107,009 | 02/24/14 | $31,050 | |
| 07/15/11 | $76,501 | 05/19/14 | $21,985 | |
| 07/15/14 | $739 | |||
| Total | $691,661 | 10/06/14 | $98,100 | |
| 10/27/14 | $300 | |||
| 01/15/15 | $16,441 | |||
| Total | $473,012 | |||
| Dallas County Republican Party FEC – C00342857 | ||||
| Before Emmert Chair | After Emmert Chair | |||
| 2008 | $777,371 | |||
| 2010* | $515,408 | |||
| Total | $1,292,779 | 2012 | $437,776 | |
| 2014 | $611,021 | |||
| Total | $1,048,797.00 | |||
| Totals of the three accounts | ||||
| Before Emmert Chair | After Emmert Chair | |||
| Dallas County Republican Party (P) – 00023868 | $64,590.00 | $64,789.00 | ||
| Dallas County Republican Party (CEC) – 00027370 | $691,661.06 | $473,012.12 | ||
| Dallas County Republican Party FEC – C00342857 | $1,292,779.00 | $1,048,797.00 | ||
| Total | $2,049,030.06 | $1,586,598.12 |
As you can see, I suppose that Emmert can claim to have raised $1.5 million if he counts all the money the party raise since he has taken over as chair. But in context, he has not raised $1.5 million MORE than the party raised before his chairmanship: in point of fact, the party has raised significantly LESS under his chairmanship in an equal amount of time.
That doesn’t mean that Emmert has done a poor job, it just means that he might be prone to exaggerating his fundraising accomplishments. There are other parts to the job and most of the people that I’ve talked to about the DCRP say that Emmert is doing a good job overall. The younger members of the Republican Party in particular like him, which is a major plus.
Emmert also stated in his email/comment that “neither Tom Mechler nor Robin Armstrong have ever raised money at this level.” I’ll accept that premise for Armstrong, especially since he was Vice-Chair of the RPT during the time that the party’s finances were a disaster. But Mechler has, according to those I’ve talked to in the party, been an integral part of the financial success that the party has had under Munisteri’s leadership. I think that at a minimum you have to give Mechler some credit for that, if not a good portion of it.
This is simply another data point for the SREC members to consider during their deliberations this weekend.
(Note: the original table has been updated to reflect a shorter time in office for Emmert. A reader alerted me that he took office mid-2011, not mid-2010.)