Spending Campaign Cash: Rodriguez vs. Munoz in HD36

There's a hot Democratic Primary House race in the Valley - Hidalgo County - that I'm watching, between Sandra Rodriguez and Sergio Munoz, Jr. for HD 36, the seat that the indicted Kino Flores held.

Rodriguez ran against Flores in 2008 and lost by 928 votes (results here). I remember on election day, reading about the frantic work at the polls for both candidates - vote counters who were checking off names of voters as they entered the polls and then doing a knock and drag program on supporters who had not voted yet. There was a report of a fight between Rodriguez and Flores at a polling location. This year's race sounds just as heated (the Texas Trib's Julian Aguilar has a good write up of the state of the race.)

Texans for Public Justice provided data on the contributions, donations and cash on hand for this race through the 8-day out report:

District

Candidate

Party

Status*

Total Raised

Total Spent

Cash On Hand

36	Munoz, Jr., Sergio	DEM	O	$109,050	$415,775	$25,789
36	Rodriguez, Sandra	DEM	O	$321,761	$264,012	$2,211

There's a requirement that for each day after the 8-day out that candidates receive additional donations, they must submit to the Texas Ethics Commission a telegram report, listing those donations. On February 22nd, Rodriguez listed some biggies:

Joe LaMantia, III $5000

James McAllen $2000

James McAllen, Jr. $2000

Texans for Insurance Reform, $52,500 media buy (in-kind)

Texans for Insurance Reform is the powerful trial lawyer group that is the answer to Texans for Lawsuit Reform (Republican tort reformers). The LaMantia family, who owns a Budweiser distributorship, gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates who are pro-gambling. The LaMantias were Flores supporters and were involved in an investigation of flying Flores illegally around the state in 2007. So, it's interesting that Joe III is giving to Rodriguez, while at the same time, she is accusing Munoz of being Flores' hand picked successor.

As of today, Munoz does not have any telegram reports, indicating no additional donations since the 8-day out.

I got an email from Annie's List this morning, decrying this Munoz ad:

I would agree with Annie's List's characterization of the ad - despicable. Annie's List requires that their endorsed candidates be pro-choice, so that's the point Munoz is making. In Rodriguez' reports, you'll find lots of donations from individual Annie's List's supporters. The donations directly from Annie's List includes:

$12,500 for TV ad production and a media buy on 2-19-10

$10,000 donation on 12-23-09

Looking at Munoz' campaign finance reports, I see a couple of interesting things on his his 8-day out:

$1000 paid to David Diaz for media consulting. He's the one who was involved in the Shami press release debacle that caused Shami's professional campaign staff to resign on Feb. 17.

$50,000 loan from Munoz to his campaign

From Munoz' 30-day out report:

$2000 to David Diaz

$4750 to Jason Stanford for opposition research (Stanford is running the non-Democrat Kinky Friedman's campaign for Ag Commisioner)

$125,000 in loans from Munoz to his campaign

From Munoz' January report:

$4500 to David Diaz

$19,500 to Johnston Campaigns (Kyle Johnston out of Houston)

$100,000 in loans from Munoz to his campaign.

Also lots of money on that report for ads, signs and contract labor

From Rodriguez' 8-day out report:

MANY thousands of dollar for literature distribution (signifying a robust door-to-door campaign)

$2500 donation from Greg LaMantia

$2500 from Texans for Economic Development (LaMantia racing money)

$97,500 from Texans for Insurance Reform for TV ad production and buy

From Rodriguez' 30-day out report:

Again, many thousands on canvassing and lit distribution

From Rodriguez' January report:

$5000 donation from Joe LaMantia

$5000 from Texans for Economic Development (LaMantia racing money)

Tens of thousands of dollars in donations from attorneys

Campaign start up costs

This race is one to watch next Tuesday night. Here's a map of this border district, for your reference. There's no Republican candidate, so whoever wins on Tuesday, is the House member for District 36.