The Five-Thousand Dollar Club

Do you know what the maximum amount that an individual or entity may donate to a City of Houston Mayoral Campaign?

$5,000.00

That is why this blog post concentrates on all the contributions in the amount of $5,000.00 donated to Peter Brown, Gene Locke and Annise Parker.

Who donated the most to Peter Brown? Who donated the most to Gene Locke? Who donated the most to Annise Parker?

Well, it is no secret that all the campaigns had individuals that maxed out at the $5k limit but I was surprised by what I found.

For example, Peter Brown had a lot of “students” donate to his campaign … not only regular students but students that donate $5,000.00 to a political campaign. He also had the least amount of $5,000.00 contributions at 35.

Annise Parker was close behind at 37 but it is Gene Locke’s contributions that dropped my mouth.

One word … wow!

Gene Locke has some high rollers backing him … from Drayton McClane the Houston Astros owner to Leslie Alexander, the Houston Rockets owner. Locke also has a ton of support from Political Action Committees (PAC) and an interesting development the Teamsters Local Union No. 988 donated the maximum on two different occasions … which I am not positive if it is legally permissible.

From a Valero PAC to the Who’s Who of Law Firms in Houston ... they are walking the walk by contributing $5,000.00 to Gene Locke.

Don’t take my word though … check out the list I have compiled. Do not be deterred by the fact that Gene Locke has over 120 contributions in the Five-Thousand Club … more than twice the amount of what Peter Brown and Annise Parker have combined

Peter Brown

Contribution Totals: $477,068.77
Expenditure Totals: $374,423.40
Contribution Balance: $1,756,031.36
Outstanding Loan Totals: $765,000.00

1. C. Michael Garver, President of BRH-Garver
2. Frank Liu, Owner of Lovett Homes
3. Cindy Liu, Additional Information Requested
4. Richard C. Bost, Principal, Consulting Engineer and Geoscientist for Environmental Resource Management
5. Means Knaus Partners, LP
6. Glenn E. Seureau, President of Seureau Development
7. Sabrina Seureau, Additional Information Requested
8. Janet Pignataro Hansen, Attorney for Jamail & Kolius
9. Edward Allen, Chairman of Eagle Global Advisors
10. Chinui Allen, Additional Information Requested
11. James Dunlap, Director of El Paso Corporation
12. Andrew Segal, Real Estate Investor for Boxer Property
13. Meg L. Goodman, Self-Employed
14. James C. Flores, Chairman of Plains Exploration
15. Sullivan Interests, LTD
16. Hoyt Brown, Sr. Project Manager for El Paso Corporation
17. Marlin A. Brown, CPA for KPMG
18. Laura Calaway of Babcock & Brown
19. James L. Robertson, Principal for Robertson & Anschultz
20. Chin Yueh Chang, Investor
21. Lina Ma Chang, Additional Information Requested
22. Henry Wu, President of American First National Bank
23. Janae Wu, Additional Information Requested
24. Chyong Jau Jenny Wu, Additional Information Requested
25. Catherine Brown, Student
26. Harry Holmes Cullen of Quintana Petroleum Corporation
27. Donald J. Freedman of Freedman Meats
28. Christopher James Brown, Real Estate & Consulting for Christopher J. Brown & Assoc.
29. Justin Segal, Partner of Boxer Property
30. Louisa Stude Stude Sarofim, Chairman of Menil Collection
31. James Wu, Vice President of Polymers USA LP
32. Robert R. Fretz, General Contractor for Fretz Construction
33. Frank Liu, Student
34. Kirby Liu, Student
35. Rachel S. Dunlap, Additional Information Requested

Gene Locke

Contribution Totals: $ 1,116,267.50
Expenditure Totals: $ 523,482.25
Contribution Balance: $ $574,671.52

1. International Longshoremen’s Association Committee on Political Education
2. Greenberg Traurig PAC
3. George Kleinpeter, Jr, President of Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc.
4. CH2M Hill Texas PAC
5. Robert McDermott, Retired
6. Political Action Committee of Winstead PC
7. Fisher, Boyd, Brown, Boudreaux & Huguenard, L.L.P.
8. Cornelia Long, Homemaker
9. Dan Arnold, Business Owner
10. Jamal Daniel of Crest Investment Company
11. Leslie Alexander, Owner of Houston Rockets
12. Meredith Long, Owner of Meredith Long Galleries
13. Rania Daniel, Homemaker
14. Robert Tudor, CEO of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
15. Terry Shaikh, Investor
16. Abel Davila, Pharmacist
17. Barbara Day, Homemaker
18. Jonathan S. Day, Attorney for Andrews & Kurth LLP
19. Alejandro Gonzalez, Self-Employed
20. Joseph Chernow, CPA
21. Ned Holmes, President of Holmes Investments
22. Fulbright & Jaworski LLP Texas Committee
23. Bob Lanier, Retired
24. Elyse Lanier, Community Volunteer
25. Fayez Sarofim, Investor with Fayez Sarofim and Company
26. John Nau, President and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors
27. Herbert Stewart, Senior Vice President of Camden Property Trust
28. Percy Creuzot, II, Restauranteur
29. June Colman, Doctor
30. David Lewis, Real Estate Appraiser for Lewis Realty Advisors
31. Gopal Jannapureddy, Engineer for Reddy Engineers & Contractors
32. Matthew Deal, Real Estate Consultant for Deal, Sikes & Associates
33. Nomaan Husain, Attorney
34. Joe Mahler, President of PDG Architects
35. Richard Gonzalez, Owner of USA Auto Collision Center
36. Willie Alexander, President of WJ Alexander & Associates P.C.
37. Rachel Carleton, Engineering Consultant for Traffic Engineers, Inc.
38. Teamsters Local Union No. 988 (Donated Twice 03/05/09 and 06/08/09)
39. Paula Guerrero, Partner of Hou Tex Paving Co.
40. Barbara Avilés, Homemaker
41. Varinder Bobby Singh, Vice President for iSani Consultants
42. HR Green PAC
43. Mischer Investments L.P.
44. D. Keith Oden, President of Camden Property Trust
45. Sandra Oden, Homemaker
46. Jacob Monty, Attorney for Monty Partners LLP
47. CDM PAC
48. MAXXAM Inc. PAC
49. Texas Weston PAC
50. Barry Silverman, Consultant
51. Cynthia Miller, Homemaker
52. George Pontikes, President of Satterfield & Pontikes
53. Joe Hudson, Investor
54. James Thompson, Regional Chief Executive for AECOM
55. Kamoru Lawal, CFO for CAMAC
56. Kase Lawal, Chairman and CEO of CAMAC
57. Kendall Miller, President of Tanglewood Corporation
58. Laura Pontikas, CFO, Executive Vice President of Satterfield & Pontikes
59. Louis Cushman of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
60. Lynne Hudson, Attorney
61. Mo Campo, Limited Partner of Agador Interests
62. Michael Sydow, Partner of Sydow and McDonald
63. Ric Campo, Limited Partner of Agador Interests
64. Tommy Ford Jr., Attorney for Andrews Kurth LLP
65. Bobby Smith Cohn, Homemaker
66. Helen Chang, International Affairs for City of Houston
67. Mark Sikes, Real Estate Consultant for Deal, Sikes & Associates
68. Morton Cohn, Owner of Morton Cohn Investments
69. Francisco Moreno of Amigo’s Meat Distributors
70. Robert Carter, President and CEO of EASI
71. Greg Compean, President of Compean Funeral Home
72. Joseph Johnston, Jr, Engineer at Johnston, LLC
73. Linda Compean, Office Manager at Compean Funeral Home
74. Bob Jones, Engineer at Jones & Carter, Inc.
75. Haroon Shaikh, CPA at H.R. Shaikh Seyar LLP
76. Rick Castaneda, Engineer for Omega Engineers, Inc.
77. Chris Wilmot, Executive at WCW International
78. Houston Associated General Contractors PAC
79. Balwanthrao Ratnala, President of Ratnala Engineering
80. Curtis Michael Garver, CEO of BRH-Garver Construction LP
81. James Dannenbaum, Engineer for Dannenbaum Engineering Co.
82. Shirley Dannenbaum, Homemaker
83. Nijad Fares, Investor for Link Group, Inc.
84. Zeina Fares, Homemaker
85. Bob Perry, Property development
86. Doylene Perry, Homemaker
87. Jeffrey Gerber, Engineer for PGAL
88. Monaca McMillian, Finance Manager for TPSNL
89. Marquis McMillian, MIS Specialist for JSG
90. Neva Meadows, Executive of British Petroleum
91. Scott Meadows, IT Consultant
92. David Medford, Owner of Ft. Bend Mechanical
93. James Simmons, CEO of JSG
94. Janet Simmons, Homemaker
95. Tammy Noyes, President of Gahagan & Bryant Associates, Inc.
96. Shaukat Zakaria, Partner of Lone Star Petroleum
97. H. Prasad Kolluru, Engineer for Amani Engineering
98. Jaya Kalaga, Principal of Kit Professionals, Inc.
99. Lutfe Hassan, CEO of Apex Group
100. Sudhakar Kalaga, Engineer at KIT Professionals, Inc
101. Darrell Morrison, Engineer at LJA Engineering & Serveying, Inc.
102. Kashif Ansari, Doctor
103. Eric Conley, Senior Technical Specialist of nGenera Corp.
104. Temmi Nguyen, Senior Engineer of Semantics
105. Valero PAC
106. Drayton McLane, Jr, Owner of Houston Astros
107. Vinson & Elkins Texas PAC
108. James Baker, CEO for James Baker Communications
109. Charles Miller, Chairman of Meridian National Inc.
110. David S. Wolff, Owner of Wolff Companies
111. Randy Sparks, Principal for Brooks & Sparks, Inc.
112. Pate PAC
113. Christopher Sarofim, Senior Vice President for Fayez Sarofim and Company
114. Bob Collie, Jr, Attorney at Andrews Kurth LLP
115. Fund for the Future
116. Gregg Jones, Attorney at Andrews Kurth LLP
117. Centerpoint Energy PAC,
118. Lawrence Kellner, Chief Executive Officer of Continental Airlines, Inc.
119. James Pitcock, Jr, President/CEO of Williams Brothers Construction
120. Vishwa Bahl, Vice President of Ratnala & Bahl Inc.
121. John Van De Wiele, Engineer of Van de Wiele Engineering, Inc.
122. Elgin Wells, Orthodontist

Annise Parker

Contribution Totals: $812,944.90
Expenditure Totals: $405,552.47
Contribution Balance: $602,969.96

1. James O. Stepp, Retired
2. Melanie Gray, Attorney at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
3. Mike Mike Garver, President at BRH-Garver, Inc.
4. Jeffery A. Smisek, Executive at Continental Airlines
5. Richard J Campo, CEO of Camden
6. Inderjit Kaur, QA Manager at Intuit
7. Georgia Anne Bost, Research Horticulturist, Biofuels Researcher for Village Botanica
8. Truman C. Edminster, Principal for Edminster, Hinshaw, Russ & Assoc., Inc.
9. James B. Russ, Engineer at Edminster Hinshaw Russ and Assoc.
10. Ray C Davis, Cheif Executive of Behavioral Systems
11. Debi S Davis, Homemaker
12. Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund (TX) PAC
13. Leticia Rodriguez, Homemaker
14. Pablo Escamilla, Attorney at Escamilla & Poneck, Inc.
15. Fabeola Diaz-Rodriguez, Boutique Owner
16. Julio C. Rodriguez, Sales Represenative at Findlaw
17. Elizabeth A. Poneck, Writer
18. Douglas A Poneck, Attorney at Escamilla & Poneck, Inc.
19. Dawn Lafreed, Owner of Denny’s Restaurant
20. Aimee B. Boone, Development Director at Texas Democratic Trust
21. J. Nick Koston, President/CEO of cPanel
22. Naomi Aberly, Community Volunteer
23. John D. Freeman, Investor
24. Rolando H Briones of Briones Consulting & Enginering
25. Ronald Bailey, Investor
26. David J. Farris, Attorney at Dorrell and Farris
27. William Edwards, Tech Investor
28. Edward Fraser, Additional Information Requested
29. Robert R. Fretz, General Contractor of Fretz Construction Company
30. Janet C. Harrell, Area Exporation Manager at Shell Oil Company
31. Janet Guidry, Additional Information Requested
32. Houston Associated General Contractors PAC
33. Ellen Susman, Retired
34. Tim Gill, President of Gill Foundation
35. Susan Alleman, Principal at Traffic Engineers, Inc.
36. Geoffrey C. Westergaard of Carl Moore Antiques,Inc.
37. Greg Jeu, Publisher for OutSmart Magazine

Update: Current law limits campaign contributions to city
candidates to $5,000 from private citizens and PACs and $10,000 from
corporations.

Three PACS donated the max at $10k to Gene Locke as one contribution. The PACS were: Andrews & Kurth Texas PAC, LAN PAC and HOME PAC.

Terlingua Group maxed out at $10k for Peter Brown on three different occaisions: 04/06/09, 04/30/09 and 05/31/09. I am not sure if that is legally permissible.

I was notified and corrected by the Peter Brown Campaign via an email that Terlingua Group did not donate $10k. I apologize for reporting this incorrectly. That would mean that Peter Brown was the only candidate that did not receive a contribution of $10k as one transaction.

Two PACS donated the max at $10k to Annise Parker as one contribution. The PACS were: Annie's List PAC and Cobb Fendley PAC.