January/February 2012 Issue

Chart: How Texans Win Friends and Influence Elections

From charities to GOP dark-ops groups, these Texas megadonors share the same rarified circles.


For Dallas billionaire gas-driller Trevor Rees-Jones and his wife, Janice, philanthropy helped provide entry into an orbit of fabulously wealthy and politically connected Texans, where alliances are forged among givers to the same cherished causes. While riding in a golf cart with ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who serves as president of the Boy Scouts of America, Rees-Jones agreed to donate $25 million to the Scouts’ Dallas chapter. He also gave $25 million to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and another $25 million to Parkland Memorial Hospital, a favorite of old-line GOP money men like Harold Simmons—a major backer of Gov. Rick Perry, Rove’s American Crossroads, and the John Kerry-vanquishing Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. These details come from Josh Harkinson’s “Black Gold for the GOP,” which explains how Rees-Jones has emerged recently as one of the Republicans’ top money men. The chart below details the ties between Rees-Jones and other conservative Texas socialites, charities, pols, and political-attack PACs. Also be sure and check out our roundup of “The Biggest Little GOP Donors in Texas.”

More Mother Jones reporting on Dark Money

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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