Houston lawyer spends big money in El Paso races
By Marty Schladen, El Paso Times, Texas | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
However, in last week's primary he plowed big money into two
It might seem counterintuitive to try to build a Democratic majority by targeting incumbents of the same party, but in an interview last month, Mostyn said he's playing a long game, trying to surround himself with candidates he can count on as
Critics pointed to Mostyn as an example of a behind-the-scenes powerbroker for liberals after the
Experts agreed that Mostyn is a rising power. But they said Democratic donors -- especially in
In the process, they worry, the rise of such money saps power from traditional political parties, giving rise instead to "shadow parties" that concern themselves only with the interests of wealthy donors.
Public interest?
Strategy sessions the Kochs hold with their big-money contributors are famously secretive. And during a visit to
By contrast, Mostyn, 42, agreed to be interviewed about his growing political footprint in
"I understand why the Republicans support the candidates they do," he said. "If you're a polluter, you want deregulation. If you don't want to pay more taxes, then that's your party.
"It's the progressive side that's a little bit harder to figure out. I gave
Instead, Mostyn said, he and his wife want to make sure that average people have the same opportunities they had. Both were the first in their families to graduate from college and both became successful attorneys, he said.
But what policies and politicians serve the common good are often in the eye of the big contributor, said
"All of these guys think they're backing good candidates," Jillson said. "It's just that they have very peculiar and detailed criteria for determining who's a good candidate."
Big money
The Mostyns, their law firm and affiliated groups contributed at least
Mostyn said his goal is to turn
However,
Jillson, of
"The people who have a lot of money and want to use it to maximize their influence are not thinking broadly," he said. "The fact that Marquez might be the 26th-most progressive member of the House, if she's wrong on one or two central issues that are essential to the donor's needs and interests, that's all they want to know."
A big issue that turned Mostyn against Marquez and Gonzalez is the support they've received from
Since last year's legislative session, Marquez has received
Marquez also received
In total, the group and its prominent
Gonzalez received
Mostyn and his groups waited until late in the
When Mostyn did start giving, however, it was in a big way. He and his groups ponied up
The right to sue
Mostyn said he is spending all that money to create a state in which opportunities are available to all. But in the
In terms of Marquez, Mostyn said his problems with the lawmaker date back to her freshman session in 2009.
The House was debating a bill that would have reversed a
Mostyn, a trial lawyer, was for the bill.
"I watched Marisa get off the floor, come up to the gallery where I was sitting and sit in a seat in the row below Mr.
Marquez was one of eight Democrats who voted against the bill, which passed a closely divided House 73-71.
But she denied that things happened the way Mostyn described, or that the scenario was even plausible.
She said she could have called Trabulsi from her desk if she wanted to consult with him. Also, she asked, if Mostyn was there and thought Marquez was about to cast the wrong vote, why didn't he stop her and tell her so?
As it is, Marquez said, she's not anybody's stooge.
"I'm an independent Democrat whose record speaks for itself," she said last month. "I don't know what
As proof of their independence, Marquez and Gonzalez have pointed to votes they cast in 2011 against House Bill 274 -- now a law -- that requires losers of some civil suits to pay the other side's legal costs. Trial lawyers and other opponents objected that the bill would make poor people with good cases reluctant to sue.
Trabulsi said the bill was one of the most important to
Texans for Lawsuit Reform Political Action Committee "has long supported independent-thinking Democrats like Rep. Marquez and Rep.
Mostyn said the votes that really count are the close ones such as Marquez' in 2009 when the House was split 75 Republicans to 73 Democrats; not in 2011, when
"Our goal is to put progressives in charge of the House and eventually win statewide elections," Mostyn said. "You can't have good progressive movements and you can't have good progressive policies if your people are taking their instructions from conservative groups."
Trabulsi said that Mostyn might say he's working for the common good, but his priorities seem to align closely with his interests as a trial lawyer.
"Mass-tort lawyer
Big plans
Mostyn said that state Sen.
"What we're talking about is a Democratic base that is able to elect its people without swing voters," Mostyn said.
He's made a big splash in recent election cycles in an attempt to bring that about.
In the 2010 cycle, the combined
Mostyn shied away from comparisons with Perry, a
"
Jillson of
"It will take a couple of decades to because people like
Mostyn will also have to attract Democratic counterparts to
"Those guys gave millions and, eventually, tens of millions over decades," Jillson said. "
Also crucial to Republican ascendancy in
"What Rove had was an encyclopedic knowledge of the
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