Let’s Dive Into District 108 Campaign Donations
State Rep. Dan Branch is going to officially announce his bid for attorney general today, and I’m aware of four men who’d like to replace him as District 108’s representative in the Legislature. Faithful readers of Park Cities People already know about Court Alley, Morgan Meyer, and Chart Westcott. Allow me to also introduce Josh Ellis.
Like Meyer, Ellis has not filed a report detailing any campaign contributions. But Alley and Westcott have; let’s take a closer look.
I’ll detail Alley’s money first, because there’s far less to talk about. He’s taken in $17,200, and more than half of that came from two individuals. Alley got $5,000 from his campaign treasurer — William Dunn, a partner with Tubular Synergy Group — and another $5,000 from his father-in-law, attorney Foster Madeley of Conroe, Texas. His next biggest contribution was $2,500 from Andrew Wyly, who is identified in Alley’s report as a self-employed writer. Last year, he and his father, entrepreneur Sam Wyly, published a book called Texas Got It Right!.
Westcott can boast far more in campaign contributions: $736,559.75, to be precise. Ten donors — including two couples — gave him $25,000 apiece. One double dip was from industrialists/philanthropists Harold and Annette Simmons; the other came from the candidate’s parents, Carl and Jimmy Westcott. On top of the $50,000 from his folks, Chart also got $10,000 from his brother — who is coincidentally named Court — and $12,049.75 from the family business, Westcott LLC.
Another of the $25,000 contributors was my old pal Troy Aikman. He leads a parade of Dallas Cowboys, including owner Jerry Jones ($5,000), retired players Roger Staubach ($2,000) and Daryl Johnston ($500), and head coach Jason Garrett’s wife, Brill ($2,500).
The sports ties aren’t limited to America’s Team. How about hockey? Westcott received $20,000 from former Dallas Stars (and Texas Rangers) owner Tom Hicks, $15,000 from Philadelphia Flyers founder Ed Snider, and $1,000 from Norm Green, the man who brought the Stars to Dallas. Then there’s golf: He got $10,000 from David Woods (the head pro at the Vintage Club in Indian Wells, Calif.), as well as $2,500 from Corey Pavin, winner of the 1995 U.S. Open.
But my absolute favorite donation in Westcott’s report, the one that put a smile on my face, was the $250 he received from LeVar Burton. That’s right — Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge himself. But if you’re not as big a Star Trek fan as I am (and I doubt you are), perhaps you’ll be more impressed by the $500 that Westcott received from The Fall Guy‘s Lee Majors.
Everyone knows Reading Rainbow is LeVar’s greatest hit. Sorry, Dan.
Oh Sarah, only if “everyone” means something different than it’s definition.
Dan… Come on. Everybody knows Lee Majors is the Six Million Dollar Man. I’m with you on Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge, but Lee will always be Steve Austin to me.
Wow, for a 28 year old who’s never done anything but work for daddy, he sure has impressed a lot of famous and influential people. He must be a superstar. Hmmm, I wonder if all of these people have connections to his father? I’m going to have to call my dad and tell him that he has let me down.
And the Hulk is spot on, Lee Majors is the Six Million Dollar man. And Lavar Burton was Kunta Kinte on Roots. Kind of like William Shatner may have been T.J. Hooker, but he will always be Captain Kirk first and foremost.
I’ve read through the 3-4 blog posts about these District 108 wannabees. This group is absolutely ridiculous …. a bunch of no-real-life-experience, family-money, barely out-of-their-parent’s-house kids. I want to see someone who has some sense of what real life is about …. someone who has built a business from ground up or who has contributed to the community or who can empathize with someone who has gone hungry for dinner or breakfast or who has some sense of what life is outside of this bubble.
Here, I’ll throw out a few names to begin with. Can we please crowdsource some better candidates:
Let’s start with Kelly Walker, who ably served on the UP city council, now on the school board, and has grown her own business.
How about Chris Murzin, who stepped up and helped make Coffee Park a reality for kids who had no other outlet? Chris fought the establishment and made UP a better place.
Tracy Kotmetsky, who serves on many different committees and was an outstanding PTA president.
For that matter, -ANY- ex-PTA mom has more organizational and fund-raising ability than this group of #district108.
District 108 is much large than the Park Cities. How about *anyone* outside of the bubble?
I know that @Avid Reader, @XT, @dgirl, and @MK can come up with a bunch of nominations as well.
@anon, I don’t have completely negative thoughts about all of the mentioned candidates. I do agree that there could always be better candidates; but that’s how these things go since pretty much everyone I would like to be involved in politics has no desire to be involved in politics (which should actually be the #1 qualifying attribute).
@ anon,
I agree with you 100%, but unfortunately, that’s not how this town works. Look at all of the comments on previous threads surrounding “commitment to the Republican (or Democratic, for that matter) party”. Or the Community League influence in Park Cities elections. Heck, the wet behind the ears 28 year old has raised almost $800,000 already. Sadly,this is not a fight that can be won.
My hat is off to anyone who gets into the political arena!
Our old pal Eric Nicholson got Westcott to explain the LeVar Burton donation:
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/07/levar_burton_formerly_of_star.php#more
^^ Thus proving my Reading Rainbow point. Just sayin’.
What’s that you say, LeVar Burton is a friend of Daddy’s? Huh.
I’d like to know how many of the ~$800K in donations are NOT friends of Daddy?