Doubts cast on ‘pro-life’ group
The website for Texans for Pro-Life shows photos of a baby’s feet being held gently by an adult’s larger hands, and smiling, cleancut young people working phone banks.
It also provides a list of preferred candidates in state and local races and the means for contributing money to support them this primary season, with the goal of helping voters make “effective pro-life choices” at the ballot box.
But the newly formed group’s endorsements have some candidates and abortion opponents doubting the organization is anything more than an artificial effort to grab real dollars in the run up to the Republican
primary March1.
Texans for Pro-Life, for example, endorsed state Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston, who has voted against new limits on abortion. She said she was unaware of the group and was surprised to see her name on the list.
So was Texas Right to Life, one of the state’s most recognized anti-abortion groups and a supporter of Davis’ opponent in the House District 134 primary contest, David Palmer.
“I can’t find a person in the pro-life world who knows what is going on with Texans for Pro-Life,” said Melissa Conway, a spokeswoman for Texas Right to Life. “In terms of activism, they don’t have any boots on the street or any engagement with the Legislature.” ‘A virtual group only’
State records show the group was formed last month by David Leib, who is co-founder of Digital Game Changers, an Austin company that specializes in political marketing and communications.
In state filings, the group is called Texans for Life, and the name appears alongside Texans for Pro-Life on its Facebook ads. Adding to the confusion, the group uses the wrong webs ute address in promotional materials.
Leib said the group wasn’t a forprofit enterprise. Rather it was formed because other anti-abortion groups in Texas “oftentimes fight each other rather than against pro-abortion lawmakers and candidates.
“We felt the time was right for a new organization to engage this important mission — one that doesn’t carry the baggage of having been at war with other pro-life groups,” hesaid.
Leib said the Davis endorsement was inadvertently added to the website and was removed Wednesday night.
Without a presence beyond the fundraising website, Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, said Texans for Pro-Life appears to be a “classic Astroturf group,” created to give the impression of widespread support but lacking true roots. “It’s a virtual group only,” he said. There’s a decades-old custom in Harris County of candidates paying to place their names on for-profit “slate” cards. The mailers are particularly effective in down-ballot races where candidates are not as well-known.
With a larger turn out than usual expected for the coming primary, Jones said an endorsement from a group like Texans for Pro-Life can help win the votes of those interested in the presidential contest but who do not closely follow local politics.
“It’s filler on a résumé,” he said. “It allows you to create the illusion that you are backed by important statewide groups.”
Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life, another widely recognized advocacy group, target key state races and rarely endorse candidates at the county or city level.
Texans for Pro-Life, meanwhile, endorsed more than 30 candidates in state and local races. The list includes some Republicans who are out of favor with Texas Right to Life.
Davis, in particular, was given zero points on Texas Right to Life’s scorecard for themost recent legislative session. Even then, she received the backing of Texans for Pro-Life.
Davis said she hasn’ t communicated with the anti-abortion group or asked for its endorsement .“But there is nothing a candidate can do really if an organization make san endorsement ,” she said. Except ignore it, which she and other candidates who received it have. Embracing endorsement
But Jay Mac Sanders, a real estate broker running for Montgomery County commissioner, shared the endorsement news on Facebook, even though he said he had not spoken with the group. “When you’re running and someone gives you an endorsement, whether you expect it or not, you’re pretty excited,” hesaid.
In Montgomery County, where the most spirited campaign fights are in the Republican primaries, candidates often strain to impress voters with who’s the most conservative. That’s the case in the race for commissioner of Precinct 3, which includes The Wood-lands. Commissioner James Noack is seeking a second term with the backing of local tea party activists, while Sanders is mounting his challenge with the help of county Judge Craig Doyal and former Commissioner Ed Chance, who represented the precinct for aquarter-century. Abortion no issue in race
Sanders, who lives in The Woodlands, said he entered the race out of concern that political tensions were creating a rift between the suburb and the rest of Montgomery County.
Abortion wasn’t part of the debate, but Texans for Pro-Life decided Jan. 30 to back Sanders because his core “christian principals (sic)” are in line with the group’s “pro-life values,” its endorsement letter said.
Asked why the issue of abortion matters for a county office that deals mostly in building roads and filling potholes, he said, “It goes to where your moral compass is.”
Campaign finance reports show Sanders interacted with Leib’s firm before receiving the endorsement. On Jan. 7, Sanders paid Digital Game Changers $500 for training in social media, he said. The firm and Texans for Pro-Life share an Austin address.
The PAC also endorsed candidates for three state district courts and Montgomery County attorney. But none of them has mentioned it on social media.
“I’ve never heard of that organization, and I didn’t seek out its endorsement,” said Eric Yollick, who is running for 9th District Court judge. “I’ve been pretty vocal around this county for 25 years, and I think people know me and where I stand.”