State Sen. Troy Fraser’s 2012 campaign disclosure reports read like a script from “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” There’s the private airplane, the expensive automobile lease, the lush Hill Country country club, not to mention swanky dinners at Austin’s Eddie V’s, or Venice, Italy’s Trattori do Forni.
The bills were all paid by someone else, namely campaign donors such as gambling interests, payday lenders and the Koch Industries political action committee, which gave nearly $400,000 to Fraser’s political account in 2012.
There’s just one catch: Fraser, a Republican from Horseshoe Bay, didn’t have a political opponent in 2012, either in the primary or general election. He is one of 40 lawmakers identified by the Houston Chronicle to have avoided any political opposition during that election cycle.
Despite the lack of a political threat, this group of legislators collectively raised $9.4 million in campaign dollars and spent $5.8 million. Much of the money paid for cellphones, plane trips, meals, car leases, car washes and Austin apartments in a year between legislative sessions. Campaigns even picked up the tab for charitable donations, wedding and graduation gifts, and funeral flowers.
“Lawmakers are living high on the hog at their contributor’s expense,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “And the contributors are inevitably repaid in favors done on the floor of the House and Senate — or more frequently in back rooms where bills are scheduled or killed when nobody is looking.”
Campaign rules in Texas limit the ability of campaign funds to be used for personal purposes, but its a limit that is easily ignored. The Texas Ethics Commission has a very loose definition of personal use.
