For our look at the impact of money in Texas politics - in addition to clarifying how much of a democracy we actually are.
This should help us understand the continuing political power of ranchers in the state, and the degree to which their interests are served by the Texas Railroad Commission.
- Click here for the article.
A West Texas rancher who has battled the Railroad Commission over abandoned oil wells on her property has poured $2 million into a dark-horse challenger for a seat on the commission, Sarah Stogner, as she looks to pull off a major upset in the May 24 Republican primary runoff.
Ashley Watt, who owns a 75,000-acre ranch in the Permian Basin where Stogner currently lives, revealed to The Texas Tribune that she has provided the seven-figure funding to Stogner, saying it will be disclosed on a campaign finance report that is expected to be released Tuesday. The money is helping bankroll a substantial TV ad buy in the final two weeks before Stogner faces the commission’s chair, Wayne Christian, in the runoff.
“I am not a political person. I don't really care about politics,” Watt said in a statement. “But when an old Chevron oil well blew out radioactive brine water into my drinking water aquifer, ruining my ranch and forcing me to sell my entire cattle herd, the Railroad Commission teamed up with Chevron to work against me.
“I’m tired of fake conservatives like Wayne Christian trampling on Texans’ private property rights, while lining their pockets with poorly disguised bribes,” Watt added.
Stogner and Watt are friends. Stogner said they connected last year on Twitter and then Watt hired her as a lawyer. Stogner has been living on Watt’s ranch in Crane County after going through a marital separation.
Stogner said Watt approached her in recent weeks and said she had done some polling — unbeknownst to Stogner — that showed she had a shot in the runoff. It was a dilemma for Stogner, who had been self-funding her campaign and proudly swearing off donations. But she said Watt eventually convinced her to “get your ego out of the way” and accept the money to have a good chance to win.
I thought the following words and phrases relate to textbook info:
- Railroad Commission
- $2 million into a dark-horse challenger for a seat on the commission
- May 24 Republican primary runoff.
- oil and gas attorney
- Ashley Watt, who owns a 75,000-acre ranch in the Permian Basin
- disclosed on a campaign finance report
- bankroll a substantial TV ad buy in the final two weeks
- the commission’s chair, Wayne Christian
- Chevron oil well
- Railroad Commission teamed up with Chevron
- fake conservatives like Wayne Christian
- private property rights
- poorly disguised bribes
- she had done some polling that showed she had a shot in the runoff
- self-funding her campaign and proudly swearing off donations
- not taking money from the industry I’m going to regulate
- the commission . . . regulates the oil and gas industry in Texas
- Christian as too cozy with the industry
- Christian’s campaign . . . calling her a Democrat trying to fool GOP voters
- “not a straight-ticket voter.”
- the biggest checks that Gov. Greg Abbott — a fundraising powerhouse — tends to receive are $1 million each.
- TV ads
- “the liberal anti-oil politicians — and the woke corporations bankrolling them.” The 30-second spot concludes by billing her as a “tough conservative mama.”
- abandoned wells
- Stogner has argued Chevron has not done enough to remedy the situation and the Railroad Commission, which is notoriously close to the industry, is not holding the company accountable by enforcing existing laws.
