Trinity River Dollars Flowing In The Form Of Campaign Donations

You often wonder if these same people who donate to political campaigns would actually put up their money towards public works projects, then maybe bond votes wouldn't be necessary.

Our friends at Pegasus News have graciously posted the donor lists for both the Vote No and Vote Yes campaigns regarding the Trinity River toll road project vote in Dallas. It is clear from the lists who has major interests in a toll road being plopped down into a flood zone. BIG BUSINESS! Yes friends, it sure is shocking to find out that business wants to put their interests ahead of the greater good of Dallas residents. And it sure is shocking we would be so sarcastic, but we have to deal with it somehow.

A nice total breakdown is also provided in their comments section by staffer Chad Jones:

VOTE NO
Total contributions: $472,074.00
Total unique contributors*: 49
Total contributions by businesses/organizations†: $427,549.00 (or 90% of total)
Total business/organization contributors: 25 (or 51% of total)

VOTE YES
Total contributions: $301,285.05
Total unique contributors*: 189
Total contributions by businesses/organizations†: $59,659.23 (or 19.8% of total)
Total business/organization contributors: 15 (or 7.9% of total)

The largest contributor to Vote No was the Dallas Citizens Council with $200,000. The name of the group is a misnomer, since it is basically a business organization that has tried to rule Dallas with an iron fist for years. Other notables is TXU with $10,000, Commercial Metals with $25,000, and Kellogg Brown & Root with $1000. We wonder what Halliburton wants to do with a road in a river? They did such a bang up job in Iraq, why not Dallas?

Vote Yes has more donors, but less money. Councilmember Angela Hunt is a large contributor to her own campaign. But we do admit we were surprised to see former Councilmember Sandy Greyson ally with her. Greyson is not exactly anti-toll road in any fashion, but it is nice to see her using common sense on a matter of road placement. Steve Millwee, a security and HR consultant is a huge donor to the Vote Yes, but he is also a past donor to the campaigns of Gary Griffith and even Mayor Tom Leppert, who sits on the opposite side of the issue. But over $50,000 from Millwee surely helps to keep a road out of the park!

You can make up your own minds what all this means. However, we see the clear pattern. Big Business vs The Grassroots. Who will win? It is up in the air at this time.