Texas Real Estate PAC (TREPAC) is backing a pro-income tax Democrat named Celia Israel in the House District 50 (north Travis County) special election run-off with Republican Mike VanDeWalle.
During the last primary TREPAC spent substantial resources to take out stalwart conservative incumbent Representative Wayne Christian. While Christian earned high marks on the Fiscal Responsibility Index while in the legislature Chris Paddie, the TREPAC backed replacement, had a failing score of 55%.
In 2012 TREPAC hosted fundraising events for 95 Texas lawmakers at the appropriately named lobby hangout joint, The Austin Club. Texas Ethics Commission records show that 59 Republicans and 35 Democrats benefitted. This is Democrat heavy considering the GOP advantage in the House is just five shy of a 2:1 ratio.
The average score for those 95 lawmakers on conservative scorecards was bad. On Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s Fiscal Responsibility Index they had a cumulative 46%. They did only slightly better on Texas Eagle Forum’s scorecard – they averaged a 54%.
This portends poorly for candidates in upcoming primaries with TREPAC money.