So we know that turncoat Henry Cuellar is beating the pants off his old mentor,
Ciro Rodriguez, in fundraising.* We know we - and some of his former Democratic colleagues - are funding Rodriguez. But who's funding Cuellar?
A visit to OpenSecrets.org answers this question, and the answer ain't pretty. This guy puts the `pro' in `Quid Pro Quo.'
Cuellar's top PAC donor for 2005-2006 was International Bancshares Corp. According to Hoovers, "The bulk of the company's portfolio is made up of business loans, including funding for northern Mexico's maquiladoras, US-owned plants in Mexico that temporarily import materials for assembly and then re-export to the US."
Continued...
That might explain Cuellar's enthusiasm for CAFTA. His PAC pals are making a killing financing sweatshops rung by shantytowns just across the border (another big PAC donor with a stake in sweat equities was the American Apparel Manufacturers Association).
Koch Industries, a family-owned behemoth that's served wingnuttia as an ATM for nearly 80 years, gave generously to Cuellar. SourceWatch calls Koch Industries
the second largest privately-held company in the United States (behind Cargill), with annual sales of more than $40 billion. Its owners, brothers Charles and David H. Koch, are leading contributors to the Koch Family Foundations, which supports a network of conservative organizations and think tanks, including Citizens for a Sound Economy, the libertarian Cato Institute, Reason Magazine, the Manhattan Institute, the Heartland Institute, and the Democratic Leadership Council. Koch was started in 1927 by Fred Koch, a charter member of the John Birch Society, with an oil delivery business in Texas. It quickly diversified into a number of other areas, but it amassed most of its fortune in the oil trading and refining.
Also showing Cuellar some wingnut love was the NRA, which must have cheered his co-sponsorship of a bill to strike D.C.'s handgun ban and his vote to shield gun manufacturers from liability.
The financial services industry was his top PAC donor by sector, pitching in $63,250 for a loyal lackey in a blue-collar Democratic district -- one they could count on for tough votes that would hurt his working class constituents, like his support of the bankruptcy bill. Other top financial/insurance sponsors included the American Bankers Association, the Credit Union National Association and San Antonio insurer United Services Automobile Association Group.
Next in line was agribusiness, followed by the healthcare industry, which must have appreciated Cuellar's vote to hinder medical malpractice lawsuits and his support for Medicare Part D. Energy gave generously, with Mobil Oil and Chevron Corp. among major contributors.
Other infamous names that made the list were Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Altria, doubtless grateful for Cuellar's vote against class action lawsuits. Inexplicably, labor unions kicked him $6,000. PAC funds made up about a third of Cuellar's take for the 2005-2006 cycle.
So who loves Cuellar? People who run sweatshops, and the people who finance them. Oil and tobacco companies. Wal-Mart and Microsoft. Wingers who want to build a wall along the Mexican border. He is truly, as his website used to say, "One of us." If you're one of them.
*For 2005-2006, Cuellar took in $645,791 and spent $307,077 with cash on hand of $290,833. Rodriguez has raised less than a third of that, taking in $192,382, spending $160,433 and reporting cash on hand of just $43,070.