Our new “Money Behind the Committee Chair” series spotlights the Texas lawmakers chairing prominent committees during the 87th Legislative Session, and the individual donors and PACs who have supported their campaigns leading up to this session. 

Texas politicians and PACs are required to file reports with the Texas Ethics Commission listing all their campaign contributions and expenditures. The most recent reports — which include all transactions for the last half of 2018 — were just released. Two major things to pay attention to in these reports: 1) final numbers on both donations and spending for the 2018 Election Cycle, and 2) perhaps even more interesting, a list of all donations made to Texas politicians after the election.

First, Geren, who chairs the powerful House Administration committee, had to announce an updated and more rigorous sexual harassment policy after claiming just last month there was no need to discuss the policy because there had been no complaints of harassment.  In November, Geren told the Texas Tribune, “We don’t have any (referring to sexual harassment complaints). I don’t deal in ‘ifs.’ When there’s one, I’ll handle it. And that’s it.” Within weeks of Geren’s statement, multiple allegations of harassment surfaced in which victims claimed they had suffered predatory behavior and found little recourse. At least one of the alleged victims claims she reported the incident to Geren himself.