Most on COVID-19 task force donate to Abbott’s campaign
Members of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s coronavirus “strike force” have contributed hundreds of thousand of dollars to his reelection campaign as the number of COVID-19 cases and the death toll has mounted, records show.
Since naming members of the Strike Force to Open Texas in midApril, Abbott pulled in just over $640,000 from appointees or affiliated groups, according to his most recent campaign finance report on file with the Texas Ethics Commission. All had donated previously to Abbott, one of the most prodigious fundraisers in Texas political history.
The new contributions drew fire from ethics watchdogs and the Texas Democratic Party, the latter accusing Abbott of having “profited off this crisis” and calling on him to return the money.
“Abbott’s pay-toplay response to the coronavirus is exactly what we expected and exactly the same response as his political lodestar, Donald Trump,” said Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman. “Trump and Abbott have decimated Texas, and their shared policies have seen Texas set new highs for coronavirus infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths. Abbott’s contributions are unconscionable.”
John Wittman, a spokesman for the governor, and all but one donor did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the nonpartisan political watchdog group Common Cause Texas called the timing of the donations “suspicious,” and said they confirm fears that putting so many wealthy contributors on the strike force would allow the influence of money to “trump public health and science” by prioritizing business interests over what’s best for Texas.
“There are clearly political and corporate considerations that are coming ahead of public health guidelines, and it’s hard not to think that corporate money or political contributions might not be one of the things that are guiding the decisions right now,” Gutierrez said.
Among the latest strike force donors who gave to Abbott in the last six weeks: former Astros owner Drayton McLane, $250,000; Texas restaurant operator Bobby
Cox, $137,596; South Texas businessman Alonzo Cantu, $25,000; the Border Health PAC, closely tied to Cantu, $150,000; Sam Susser, chairman of BancAffliated, $50,000; Bruce Bugg, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, $25,000; and Balous Miller, owner of Bill Miller BBQ, $5,000, records show.
Susser, the banker and investor who recently gave Abbott $50,000, said he gives money to the governor not to influence any policy outcomes but because he believes the governor is “doing a terrific job leading our state.”
“If any of those critics would like to have my job, and can do it better, more power to them,” Susser said. “I try to do the best I can. It cost me a ton of time and money to do those things. And I’m not very empathetic to whatever criticism may be out there.”
Abbott had already come under fire from Democrats and ethics watchdogs for putting numerous high-dollar donors on his 39-member strike force advisory team, which helped him plan for reopening the Texas economy after it was largely shut down amid a wave of coronavirus infections earlier this year.
After lifting an economic lockdown in successive stages starting in late April, Texas has seen its infections and hospitalizations skyrocket, sparking criticism that the state reopened too soon.
According to reports in the Dallas Morning News and the Texas Tribune, more than two dozen members of the strike force had given Abbott at least $5.8 million before being tapped to advise him on reopening the economy.