TIR-PAC Political History
After the corporate buy-out of the Texas House of Representatives in the 2002 general election, a radical special-interest agenda has been advanced in the 2003 and 2005 legislative sessions. Bi-partisanship was thrown out the window; and fattening the corporate bottom-line became the goal, at the expense of your family’s bottom-line.
TIR-PAC was formed before the 2004 election cycle to begin fighting back! There was immediate success in the Democratic Primary that year. It seems that Democratic Primary voters were plenty upset with incumbent Democrats who supported the big-business agenda and the partisan redistricting power-grab carried out by the Republican Speaker Tom Craddick and Tom DeLay.
2004 Democratic Primary
TIR-PAC played a key role in the defeat five incumbents in that primary, a feat that sent political shockwaves through the capitol – incumbents are not supposed to lose: Chairman Ron Wilson of Houston was defeated by former State Board of Education Member Alma Allen; Chairman Jaime Capelo of Corpus Christi was bested by fellow attorney Abel Herrero; Chairman Glenn Lewis of Fort Worth met his match in newcomer Marc Veasey; State Rep. Timo Garza of Eagle Pass fell to former member Tracy King; and State Rep. Roberto Gutierrez of Mission lost to attorney Veronica Gonzales!
2004 General Election
In the fall of 2004 TIR-PAC assisted in small or large part in the election of Yvonne Gonzales Tourielles of Alice, Stephen Frost of Texarkana, Juan Escobar of Kingsville, David Leibowitz of San Antonio and Mark Strama of Austin; the re-election of Jim McReynolds of Lufkin and Scott Hochberg of Houston; the noble, but unsuccessful, defense of John Mabry in Waco; and the near-miss with Kelly White in Austin.
2006 Republican Primary
TIR-PAC proudly supported: insurance reform and public school advocate Wade Gent in his almost successful Republican Primary challenge to incumbent Betty Brown of Terrell; Drew Mouton who almost forced a runoff in Pete Laney’s open seat; and former District Judge John Devine of Houston who lost a close race in an open seat.
2006 Democratic Primary
The 2006 Democratic Primary saw the defeat of corporate tax-break advocate Chairman Al Edwards of Houston at the hands of community leader Boris Miles. The so called “Texans for Lawsuit Reform” sought revenge in the Democratic primary against State Reps. Richard Raymond of Laredo and Dora Olivo of Rosenberg; each stood up to the insurance companies and defended the civil justice system. TLR spent tens of thousands of dollars to defeat them, but each ultimately prevailed in a landslide, with the help of TIR-PAC.
2006 General Election
Those incumbents who have carried the fight for regular Texans were under a big-money assault. TIR-PAC stood with, among others: Yvonne Gonzales Tourielles, Jim McReynolds, Mark Strama, Joaquin Castro, Scott Hochberg and Hubert Vo.
In challenge races and open seats are TIR-PAC supported the successful candidacies of Valinda Bolton in Austin, Allen Vaught in Dallas, Ellen Cohen in Houston, Joe Farias in San Antonio and Juan Garcia in Corpus Christi.
2008 General election
Tom Craddick had been elected as the first Republican Speaker of the Texas House in over 100 years on the strength of a lopsided 88 to 62 Republican majority in the 2002 elections. His extreme corporate agenda has since led to the steady erosion of that majority. Going into the 2008 General Election he held a slim five vote majority of 79 to 71 and many of his own Republican members were threatening to revolt.
When the 2008 general election led to a net gain of three additional Democrats, leaving the slimmest Republican majority possible, 76 to 74, it was over for Craddick and a new Republican Speaker was elected; Joe Straus of San Antonio.
TIR-PAC is proud to have supported the successful candidacies of Valinda Bolton, Kirk England, Abel Herrero, Diana Maldonado, Jim McReynolds, Robert Miklos, Joseph Moody, Kristi Thibaut, Chris Turner, Allen Vaught, Hubert Vo and Armando Walle.
Please Join In The Fight – The Need Is Great!
Texans for Lawsuit De-form and other insurance friendly interests will again pour literally millions of dollars into legislative races; but they have lost ground in every election since their greedy agenda became clear in 2003! Now is the time to re-double our efforts and take the message to the legislative campaigns of Texas that it is time to restore integrity and common sense to the legislature!
