As Nicole posted earlie
We thought I'd take a look to see which campaigns the private prison companies were donating to this campaign cycle. Interestingly, over at the Texas Ethics Commission site, I could find no record of Corrections Corporation of America, the big giver in Arizona, donating any money Texas candidates this year. However, The GEO Group, perhaps the most troubled private prison corporation in Texas in recent years, donated plenty and spread its money around. The company has spent $23,000 total on Texas races, and $18,750 or more than 80% of that spending on Republican candidates. Here's a breakdown:
Recipient | Contributor | Date | Party | Amount |
Sen. Glenn A. Hegar | Texas GEO Group Inc PAC | 4/20/2010 | Republican | $500 |
Sen. Florence Shapiro | Texas GEO Group Inc. | 4/26/2010 | Republican | $500 |
Friends of Rep. John Zerwas | Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC | 5/06/2010 | Republican | $500 |
Texas House Leadership Fund | Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC | 2/22/2010 | Republican | $1,500 |
Rep. Phillip S. King | Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC | 3/01/2010 | Republican | $5,000 |
Sen. Stephen E. Ogden | Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC | 3/01/2010 | Republican | $1,000 |
Rep. Byron Curtis Cook | Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC | 2/10/2010 | Republican | $500 |
Rep. Armando A. Martinez | Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC | 2/25/2010 | Democrat | $250 |
Rep. Delwin Jones | Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC | 3/22/2010 | Republican | $250 |
Rep. Edmund P. Kuempel | Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC | 3/04/2010 | Republican | $500 |
David Sibley | Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC | 4/15/2010 | Republican | $1,000 |
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst Committee | The GEO Group Inc. PAC | 9/13/2010 | Republican | $2,500 |
Sen. John Whitmire | Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC | 1/25/2010 | Democrat | $1,500 |
Sen. John Whitmire | The Geo Group Inc. PAC | 10/21/2010 | Democrat | $2,500 |
Texans For Rick Perry | The Geo Group PAC | 9/03/2010 | Republican | $5,000 |
The only other private prison corporation to spend money on campaign contributions was Houston-based Cornell Companies, which was recently bought by GEO. Cornell donated a total of $7,500 in 2010 to Texas candidates, with $5,000 or 66% of that going to Democratic candidates or Democratically-leaning caucuses:
Recipient | Contributor Name | Date | Party | Amount |
TX Leg. Black Caucus | Cornell Companies | 6/09/2010 | Leans Dem. | $2,500 |
James M. McReynolds | Cornell Employees PAC | 8/02/2010 | Democrat | $1,500 |
James R Pitts | Cornell Employees PAC | 5/20/2010 | Republican | $2,000 |
Eduardo A. Lucio | Cornell Employees PAC | 6/29/2010 | Democrat | $1,500 |
Comments
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So what...
They're free to do as they please with their money...
At issue here isn't whether
At issue here isn't whether the elected officials are free to do what they want with, "their money"-- as you put it. At issue is the possibility that money from these companies may be shaping public policy. While I don't think it's fair to make the strong claim that the politicians are doing a quid pro quo, it seems plausible that the money from private prison companies is at least resulting in their increased access to our legislators. And when these companies buy access to legislators, they may be influencing public policy.
It seems these figures may not include individual contributions to state legislators from big-whigs at the companies, and they definitely do not include information about the lobbying that goes on. The money problem may be understated by this post.
whitmire
I testified before WHitmire's commission on the horrible abuses going on in the state's prison rehab program, SAFP-F. As soon as he discerned that I was not there to ask for more funding to be given to this "wonderful" program, but rather to uncover the abuses, he turned and began chatting with his buddies and completely ignored my testimony. It surprises me not a bit to find him on this list.