Raising and Spending Campaign Cash: Defend Texas Liberty PAC

In a previous post about the GPAC Conservative Republicans of Texas I mentioned the $150,000 donation from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC. Here are some details about that PAC.

Raising Campaign Cash: The Defend Texas Liberty PAC was created in 2019 with Shelby Griesinger of Willow Texas as Treasurer. Over the last two years they have raised $5,701,482 from 20 donations from 11 individuals. Timothy Dunn CEO of Crownquest in Midland Texas donated $2,590,000 more than half of the complete total. Farris Wilks, owner of Wilks Brothers LLC of Cisco Texas donated a total of $2,010,000. Phillip Huffines (related to Don Huffines running for Governor?) donated $500,000 and Hindi Grimes of Houston Texas donated $221,500 The remaining $379,982 came from 7 donors. About 94% of all donations came from just 4 individuals. The entire donation list is below.

Spending Campaign Cash: During the same period the PAC spent $5,534,614. $3,600,000 was donated to the Don Huffines Campaign who ran, and lost, for Governor. $206,500 was donated to the Shelley Luther Campaign who lost in her run for the Texas House. According the Houston Chronicle Shelley "Shelley Luther, the hair salon owner who was catapulted into political stardom after being jailed for defying a pandemic lockdown order".Direct Texas LLC received $374,181 for printing services.

Donations:

Dunn ,Timothy	2,300,000.00
Wilks ,Farris	2,000,000.00
Huffines ,Phillip	500,000.00
Grimes ,Windi	221,500.00
Dunn ,Timothy	200,000.00
Dunn ,Tim	100,000.00
Fisher ,Ken	100,000.00
Dunn ,Tim	65,000.00
Dunn ,Tim	50,000.00
Dunn ,Tim	50,000.00
Van Wolfswinkel ,Randall	50,000.00
Dunn ,Timothy	25,000.00
Pendery ,Darlene	17,450.00
Leiniger ,James	10,000.00
Wilks ,Farris	10,000.00
Fulks ,Jayson	1,000.00
Tony ,McDonald	532.32
McManus ,Jeffrey	500.00
McManus for County Chair	500.00

Donating Campaign Cash: The Texas Oligarchs Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks (CNN follow up)

CNN aired a segment titled Deep in the Pockets of Texas. It focused on two billionaires funneling money into various candidates and PACs. Here is a breakdown of their contributions in Texas.

Farris Wilks. Wilks is the owner of an oil company in Cisco Texas. Over the last 8 years he has donated over $10 Million to various candidates, elected officials and PACs. $2,481,000 to the Texas Right to Life PAC, $201,000 to the Texas Home School Coalition, $273,000 to that fat bastard Jonathan S. Stickland, $425,000 to Ken Paxton, $453,444 to Mike Lang nearly his entire campaign fundraising activity. 

Farris and his wife donated $1,125,000 to Jon Francis in his losing effort for a State House seat. Francis raised $1,435,905 with $80,000 in loans. 

He donated $1.8 Million to the now defunct Empower Texas and $2.2 Million to Defend Texas Liberty PAC which couple with 2 other donors accounted for most of the donations.

Timothy Dunn. Dunn is an oil and gas executive. He donated a total of over $18 Million over the last 8 years. He financed the down defunct Empower Texas for a total of $7,727,500. $5,365,000 went to Defend Liberty PAC. $670,000 went to Ken Paxton.

$2,481.000 was donated to the Texas Right to Life PAC and $407,000 to State Representative Tony Tinderholt who has been married 5 times, twice to one person. 

He donated $1,700,000 to Shelley Luther in her failed attempt at a State House seat. She is the hairdresser that defied quarantine orders during COVID. $1,200,000 was to pay off her personal loan for the campaign.

Raising Campaign Cash: Conservative Republicans of Texas

This is interesting.

A group called the Conservative Republicans of Texas published an endorsement mailer for the 2022 Republican primary with comments from Steven Hotze, the founder, and Jared Woodfill, the President of CROT and the former Chair of the Harris County Republican Party. 

The endorsements include Don Huffines who ran for Governor (lost), Money Mays Middleton who ran for Senate District 11 (won), Eric Dick who ran for Harris County Treasurer (lost) and Vidal Martinez for Harris County Judge (in a runoff). All of these candidates are considered to be extreme far right wing.

Since Jan 1, 2021, CROT raised $641,000 with Defend Texas Liberty PAC donating $150,000 (more on them in a separate post) Huffines $126,500, Money Mayes Middleton $50,000 Eric Dick and Vidal Martinez both donated $50,000. 

The largest donors of $2500 or more totaling $484,600 include:

Don Huffines Campaign	76,500.00
Don Huffines Campaign	50,000.00
Middleton ,Mayes	50,000.00
Eric B. Dick	25,000.00
Eric B. Dick for Harris County Treasurer	25,000.00
Ken Paxton Campaign	25,000.00
Vidal Martinez for Harris County Judge	25,000.00
Vidal Martinez for Harris County Judge	25,000.00
Jerry Mouton Jr Commissioner Campaign	15,000.00
Johnny Mark Teague	15,000.00
Sid Miller Campaign	15,000.00
Valoree Swanson Campaign	15,000.00
J B Flynn Campaign	10,000.00
Jerry Mouton, Jr Commissioner Campaignr	10,000.00
Kerns ,Steve	10,000.00
Mark Keough Campaign	10,000.00
Roberts ,David	10,000.00
Conservative Republicans Of Harris County	8,600.00
Steven Toth Campaign	7,000.00
Bert Keller Campaign	5,000.00
Brandon Steinman Campaign	5,000.00
Bryan Slayton Campaign	5,000.00
C.D. Group	5,000.00
Clockwork Consulting LLC	5,000.00
Darrell Apffel Campaign	5,000.00
Kenneth Clark Campaign	5,000.00
Metts Sr ,James O	5,000.00
Mike Schofield Campaign	5,000.00
Rachal Diane Jackson-Hisler Campaign	5,000.00
Sid Miller Campaign	5,000.00
Henry Dugie for Galveston County Treasurer	2,500.00