Texas Gov. Greg Abbott arrives for a campaign stop on Oct. 24, 2022. Abbott heads into the current election with a considerable war chest for his reelection campaign.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed four bills into law that give parents more rights in determining how their children are educated in schools.
State Rep. John Raney, R-Bryan, center, smiles while talking with State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, after a vote of 84-63 stripped school vouchers from HB1 on Nov. 17, 2023.
State Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston, holds up her phone during a dramatic vote to kill school vouchers in HB1 on Nov. 17, 2023. The vote was 84-63 to strip the educational savings accounts from the bill.
A Pennsylvania billionaire gave Gov. Greg Abbott $6 million last month in the single largest donation in Texas political history, money the governor promises to employ in his reprisals against reasonable Republicans.
Texans must take their government back from the oligarchs who are showering our leaders with millions, and there’s a manual on how to do it.
Abbott’s new donor is Jeff Yass, a former professional gambler and co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, an investment firm specializing in options trading, another form of gambling. He is the 52nd wealthiest man in the world, worth $28.9 billion, according to Forbes, and he’s obsessed with destroying public schools.
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Abbott could not be prouder.
“With this substantial financial backing, Governor Abbott will ensure that the conservative candidates who support his bold agenda to expand school choice, secure our southern border, and lower property taxes have what they need to keep Texas red,” a campaign statement declared.
Yass is the Tim Dunn of Pennsylvania, a reclusive libertarian billionaire who uses loose campaign finance laws and secretive political action committees to drive his ideological agenda. Like Dunn, who recently pocketed billions more by selling his West Texas oil and gas company, he’s not afraid to back the most extreme right wing characters.
Yass handed out $18 million to his favored candidates in Pennsylvania’s 2022 primary elections and is a heavy donor to the ultraconservative State Policy Network. The local chapter is the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a right wing group that strikes fear in every Republican politician.
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Investigative journalism outfit ProPublica took a deep dive into how Yass has avoided paying $1 billion in taxes. Meanwhile, he called the COVID-19 pandemic a boon for his bottom line and invests in gambling websites that exploit addiction.
Abbott, who is not up for reelection this year, will spend some of the money to defeat rural Republicans who voted against his plan to provide taxpayer-funded private school vouchers and gut public school funding. Rural lawmakers recognize that public schools are the largest employers in their districts, which do not have private schools.
Yass’ gift doubles Dunn’s $3 million contribution to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s campaign coffers through his Defend Texas Liberty PAC. Just as Patrick delivered an acquittal for Dunn’s handpicked attorney general, Ken Paxton, Yass hopes Abbott can deliver on school vouchers despite polls showing most Texans oppose them.
Such massive donations, extremist rhetoric and one-party rule have left most Texas voters disillusioned. A new Pew Research survey shows extreme partisanship is souring all Americans on our democracy.
“I feel like if I could get my voice out there more, I would be more involved,” one Republican-leaning woman told Pew. “I’m not one of the important people, you know what I mean?”
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Sam Daley-Harris knows precisely how she feels, which is why he’s thoroughly updated his book, “Reclaiming Our Democracy.” The book provides a detailed guide to nonpartisan engagement with politicians of every stripe to demand they meet the needs of the people, not their billionaire donors.
Daley-Harris’ experience founding RESULTS, an anti-poverty nonprofit, in 1985 informs his tactics. The group trains volunteers to contact their elected officials, get appointments with them or their staff and make the case for common sense solutions.
RESULTS is good at alerting the media, too. Readers should know the Houston chapter gave me an award last year for my commentary on poverty and health issues.
Citizens are shocked to learn how responsive elected officials can be, especially if you offer an intelligent pitch instead of cursing at them. Politicians and journalists are swamped with emails and messages from professional communicators daily, and we don’t hear enough from regular folks who sincerely desire to better their community.
“The book aims to show people that when it comes to protecting our democracy, more is possible than just voting, as important as that is, or standing by and watching in horror,” Daley-Harris told me.
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I sense that every person who tells me they hate politics and politicians is hungry for change. We can see it in the polls showing how much we disapprove of our leaders. We live it through low-turnout elections. Only 16% of Houston voters cast ballots in the mayoral runoff.
This year, we need angry and disillusioned citizens to speak up because, I promise you, that’s what the extremists and billionaires on all sides fear the most. A popular revolt by the center would take away their partisan power and replace it with the practically-minded democracy we all want.
Award-winning opinion writer Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at HoustonChronicle.com/TomlinsonNewsletter or Expressnews.com/TomlinsonNewsletter.
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