John Edwards Scandal Hits Close To Home With Texas Democrats

August 10th, 2008 by Jake Hatlin | Posted in Election Commentary, Getting After The Left |

Consider this a spin-off of the John Edwards affair.  Not one to comment too much on national politics, I was ready to put this one to bed after my previous post, then I saw this in the Dallas Morning News.  Fred Baron, a Dallas attorney and prominent democrat donor has admitted to paying for Edwards’ mistress to relocate out of Edwards’ home state of North Carolina and all the way over to the west coast.  To his credit, Mr. Baron says he did so out of Ms. Hunter’s best interests, but frankly I think this smells too much of a cover-up exposed.

Now, liberals sure do make a big deal out of who folks like Dr. Leininger and Bob Perry give money to based on philosophical differences.  So that got me to thinking, why not take a look at who Mr. Baron is giving money to when he’s not busy relocating his party’s mistresses.  This list (scroll down if you hit the link) is long and distinguished, so lets get right to it.

Mr. Baron sure does take an interest in his native Dallas County.  He’s given the Dallas County Democrat PAC better than 36K, and has contributed directly to democrat Dallas County House candidates Emil Reichstadt (2.5K), Rafael Anchia (2.5K), and Carol Kent (10K).  Other democrat House Members/candidates on his list include: Mark Strama (2K), Jim Dunnam (2.5K), Richard Raymond (5K), and Pete Gallego (2.5K).  Oh, and lets not forget about Chris Turner.  Remember his super human fundraising numbers?  Well, they were aided by a 5K check from Mr. Baron.

Mr. Baron is not shy with democrat Senators/Senate candidates either.  Kirk Watson, Royce West and Juan Hinojosa all took in 10K checks.  Judith Zaffirini, Joe Jaworski and Eliot Shapleigh each got 2.5K or less.  And then that brings us to Chris Bell, current SD 17 democrat candidate who has previously taken 25K from Mr. Baron.   

The Dallas lawyer is also generous with his contributions to various PACs.  The Trial Lawyers have gotten their share, as has the Texas Democrat Party (40K).  But probably my favorite of his PACs is Annie’s List and the 55K they’ve taken off Mr. Baron.  I’m sure his money helped in Annie’s List’s contributions to the following democrat candidates on their last report: Carol Alvarado, Carol Kent, Diana Maldonado, Donna Howard, Kristi Thibaut, Paula Hightower Pierson, Valinda Bolton, Veronica Gonzalez, and Wendy Davis.

And folks, we’re just getting started.  We haven’t even got to the bulk of the millions that Fred Baron has spent on democrats and their causes in Texas.  To accomplish that, we must look closely at the Texas Democratic Trust, and the better than 3.2 million dollars that Fred Baron has bankrolled them with.  That fund has since donated heavily to other democrat organizations, namely the Texas Democrat Party (570K), and the Texas Progressive Council (190K).  One word comes to mind when I look at those figures…damn.

But there was one more democrat group getting big money from the Texas Democratic Trust that caught my eye, a little organization I like to call the House Democratic Campaign Committee.

Yahtzee!!!

Over the past year, Mr. Baron’s Democratic Trust has given 185K to the House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC), or two-thirds of their total contributions raised.  Looking at the HDCC’s activity, we find them already financially supporting the likes of Chris Turner, Hubert Vo, Juan Garcia, Dan Barrett, Donnie Dippel, and Larry Hunter.  But the interesting question here is, with 150K still in the bank as we move toward November, what is the HDCC planning to do with Fred Baron’s money in the months ahead?

Now, to be fair, Mr. Baron has also contributed 4K to Republican Lt. Governor David Dewhurst.  But considering the millions and millions of dollars Mr. Baron has spent on democrats in Texas, I would like to ask the follow question:

What does the Texas Democrat Party as well as the various organizations and individual candidates on the receiving end of Mr. Baron’s money have to say about his behavior while Chair of the John Edwards Campaign Finance Committee?