Category: Political Action Committee

Follow the Money

City of Bastrop Edition

Candidates are legally required to file financial disclosure forms. Why? Primarily so you know where a candidate is getting their money.

May 3 contested candidates were required to file 30-day and 8-day prior reports by April 3 and April 25 respectively. Let’s take a look at who filed or failed to file and what the reports tell us.

If you’ve not spent a lot of time looking at these reports or reading on Texas Ethics what candidates must report, they may be confusing. So, I’ll break them down with what I see that should concern City of Bastrop voters: who is getting money from developers.

First, it’s the law that candidates with opponents file reports on time (Sec. 254.037. FILING DEADLINE). While local election reports aren’t filed with Texas Ethics, Texas Ethics rules apply to all filings. Texas Ethics provides a synopsis of what local candidates must file and when. Even after an election, win or lose, candidates with money in their accounts must file reports by Jan 15 and July 15 annually.

Let’s look at issues revealed by these reports.

city council place 5

  • Cheryl Lee donations reported in her 30-day report are short $300. Whether she failed to list a donation or added wrong is impossible to tell.
  • John Kirkland accepted a $250 donation from the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin-HOMEPAC.
  • John Kirkland accepted $500 from a relative of the developer that just received $600,000 of City taxpayer money in the form of a grant1. The address listed for that person is the business address of the developer.
  • At a City Council meeting, when asked to acknowledge if any Council members had received donations from this developer, Kirkland and Plunkett sat silent even though they had.
  • Kevin Plunkett accepted four $500 contributions from this same developer under four different names: Duhrman Bassett Realty Group LLC, BCSC LLC, BRP East LP, Bastrop Retail Partners LP.
  • Texas law prohibits corporations and labor organizations from making political contributions to candidates. The prohibition also applies to other organizations, such as partnerships and limited liability companies (LLC), if they are owned by a corporation or include an incorporated member or partner.4
  • Plunkett has not filed the legally required reports since 20232 violating Texas Ethics rules.
  • John Kirkland recently accepted $3916.37 from Councilman Plunkett’s campaign account1.
  • Plunkett originally accepted those developer contributions. He then donated the funds to Kirkland, who also accepted a contribution from this developer. Contribution movement

city council place 1

  • Perry Lowe’s donations of note: Robert Trevino (City Manager’s husband $65); Joe Grady Tuck ($250); Home Builders Assoc-HOMEPAC ($250); Texas Realtor’s PAC-TREPAC ($2,000 pledged)
  • Cecilia Serna: Serna chose modified reporting, meaning she would not raise or expend over $1100.

mayoral candidates

  • Ward Northcutt identified all donors and expenses properly in both his 30-day and 8-day reports.
  • Willie DeLaRosa did not file an 8-day report. That’s a violation of Texas Ethics.
  • Ishmael Harris (30-day report) claims $1640 in itemized contributions, but the reported amounts don’t add up. The reported donor amounts add up to $1510. Included in that $1510 is a $200 contribution from “anonymous”. Anonymous donations are illegal5. Also listed are several names with no donation amounts.
  • Ishmael Harris also took money from the City Manager’s husband, Robert Trevino ($65).
  • Ishmael Harris has signs all over town, yet none of his reports show an expense for signs. Who paid for them? Each of the other mayoral candidates spent close to $1,000 for signs, just to put this in perspective.

april 30 updates

  • Perry Lowe missing donation: According to their 8-day prior Texas Ethics filing, Mel Cooper’s BCC GPAC donated $500 to Perry Lowe’s campaign. It does not show in Lowe’s 30-day prior or 8-day prior campaign finance reports.
  • Cecilia Serna 8-day report: Once a candidate exceeds the $1100 of modified reporting, that candidate is required to file reports. Cecilia Serna filed an 8-day prior report on time after having exceeded the $1100 modified reporting limit.

summary

Question Mark ManAsk yourself how a candidate will manage taxpayer money if they can’t properly manage campaign funding. Ask yourself who will get their ear and vote if they’ve taken money from developers and development-related PACs (Political Action Committees).

Candidates John Kirkland and Perry Lowe have taken significant funds from the development community. Willie DeLaRosa hasn’t filed the legally required reports. Ishmael Harris hasn’t reported all his campaign income and expenses as legally required.

The only candidates to properly fill out these reports were Ward Northcutt who is running for mayor and Cecilia Serna running for City Council, Place 1. Cheryl Lee had a minor error in one report, but shows no donations from developers.

These public documents are for your benefit. They are required so you know where a candidate is getting their money and how they are spending it. Know before you go.

1 https://www.cityofbastrop.org/upload/page/0601/Election_2025/John%20Kirkland/Kirkland_30th%20Day%20Finance_Redacted.pdf
2 https://www.cityofbastrop.org/page/cs.candidate_officeholder_documents
3 https://www.cityofbastrop.org/page/cs.election_may2025_SPECIAL
4 https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/resources/guides/Gpolfund.pdf
5 https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/resources/guides/Gpolfund.pdf

Campaign Literature 101

It’s started. The other day I received this piece of campaign literature from Representative Stan Gerdes. Oops! I’ll bet that’s what you thought too.

No. It wasn’t from Stan Gerdes. It was about Stan Gerdes. It was from Americans for Prosperity.

About a year ago, I wrote a post called “Read Between the Lines” about campaign literature. All campaign literature is sophisticated marketing material. It’s meant to manipulate. Don’t be fooled.

This piece of literature was paid for by Americans for Prosperity (AFP). That’s a PAC, a political action committee. Who are they? Who else have they funded?

A look at their legally required reporting to the Texas Ethics Commission shows AFP supported ten current Republican Texas House members1. Six of those ten voted to impeach Ken Paxton, including Stan Gerdes. The other five were Angie Chen Button, Janie Lopez, John Lujan, Morgan Meyer, and Ben Bumgarner.

School Choice

So while Stan Gerdes and the other five have all signed on as co-sponsors of HB3, the House bill on Education Savings Accounts, they also voted to impeach Ken Paxton.

Did you know there are two school choice bills? Maybe not and this literature doesn’t tell you that.

The Texas Senate has passed one (SB2) and has sent it to the Texas House for consideration. And, that’s where it sits.

The Texas House has its own bill (HB3) and that one has its first public hearing on Tuesday March 11. Should that pass as it is written, the Senate and House will have to come together to iron out the differences between the two bills. If they can’t do that, school choice will not make it to the Governor’s desk.

If you’re going to call Stan Gerdes’ office as this literature suggests, ask which of the two bills he supports. If his staff says the House bill, HB3, ask if he’d also support the Senate bill. If not, why not. The devil is in the details, as they say.

Read Between the Lines

1 Only one rep receiving AFP donations voted against Ken Paxton’s impeachment. The other three are new reps.

Arrogance is Divisive and Damaging

What’s with political organizations that refuse to work with other political organizations? I’ve been involved in the political world since 1987, 37 years. I’ve been president of multiple organizations. I’ve been an elected official. I’ve been an elected Party official in 2 states.

I’ve never seen so many ego driven, divisive, arrogant, political leaders in all those years as I see today. I’ve never seen so-called “leaders” who flat out refuse to talk to or work with other Party organizations, who publicly denigrate elected officials. Even for defeated candidates, it’s important not to “burn bridges”, but “burning bridges” seems to be the norm now.

We must work together. We must talk with each other. We must respect each other’s organizations and how they operate. We must acknowledge our differences and strive to find common goals. We are stronger together.

lots of people graphic

One would think that as conservatives, we would do that. But what happens when the arrogance of certain leaders just flat out refuses to do so? Apparently, they don’t realize they are hurting themselves, their organizations, and our GOP candidates.

Put your egos aside people. If you can’t, you don’t belong in leadership of any kind, especially in the political world.

Remember “United We Stand. Divided We Fall.”