New campaign finance reports filed in September reveal that Texans are still giving money to Super PACs, which are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of political candidates. We've updated the numbers and also improved our interactive tool for exploring the contributions.
In September, Texans gave a total of $8.6 million to super PACs, bringing the overall total to $77.1 million for the 2012 election cycle. The monthly reports, which cover all September activity, show that Houston homebuilder Bob Perry provided $2 million to the pro-GOP American Crossroads, bringing his total donations to the group to $6.5 million. Steve Mostyn, the Houston-based lawyer and former president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and his wife, Amber, gave $1.5 million — $1 million to the pro-Obama Priorities USA Action super PAC and $500,000 to the House Majority PAC, a group aiming to secure a Democratic majority in the U.S. House.
Want to take a look at the raw data? The Sunlight Foundation —the source used to create this interactive — has made the the complete list of donors available for download here.
Each color on the chart represents one of the top 10 super PACs receiving Texas money. To view the individual donors that have given at least $10,000 to a group, click on the PAC to zoom in.
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Comments (3)
Adele Roberson
http://vimeo.com/2019192
Stealing America - Vote by Vote
Adele Roberson
Askia Muhammad ·Huffington Post 5/10/12
Snow White, Superman and Pinocchio are walking along. They see a sign: "Contest for World's Most Beautiful Woman." Snow White goes in, later comes out smiling, wearing a crown. They walk along and see another sign: "Contest for World's Strongest Man." Superman goes in, later comes out smiling, wearing the belt. They walk along and see a sign: "Contest for World's Greatest Liar." Pinocchio goes in, later comes out with his head down crying. "Who the hell is Mitt Romney?" Pinocchio sobs.
Adele Roberson
A million-dollar donation by a foreign-owned corporation to a Republican super-PAC has raised legal concerns and opened up the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision to new criticism.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/canadian-foreign-donation-super-pac-restore-our-future