Empower Texans was a conservative advocacy group in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
that was active from 2006 to 2020. It was affiliated with Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and the Empower Texans Foundation. Empower Texans was based in Austin with operations in Dallas, Houston, and Midland. Empower Texans focused on fiscal conservatism by supporting lower taxes and spending restraint. It operated in Republican state-level politics in Texas, targeting candidates whom the group views as insufficiently conservative in Republican primaries.
History
Empower Texans was formed in 2006 by businessman Tim Dunn. Dunn was the group's primary financial contributor.
Dan and Farris Wilks
Dan Howard Wilks and Farris Cullen Wilks, also known as the Wilks Brothers, are American petroleum industry businessmen. Sons of a bricklayer, the brothers established Wilks Masonry in 1995. They went on to found an early hydraulic fracking company ...
were also major donors to Empower Texans. The group was described as
Tea Party
A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...
-aligned.
In 2014, Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan was fined by the Texas Ethics Commission after the agency alleged that he had failed to register as a lobbyist starting in 2010. Sullivan said his activities were best described as journalism rather than lobbying. He appealed the fine, but in 2021 was ordered to pay the fines by a district court judge.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR), which was a project of Empower Texans, was a conservative
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
advocacy group
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
based in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. The group was founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan. TFR was a
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organization and filed as a
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
.
TFR advocated for low taxes and limited government spending. The group was described as trying to "purge the GOP establishment." ''
Texas Monthly
''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...
'' called TFR "one of the most influential advocacy groups in Austin".
Through TFR, Empower Texans published an annual Fiscal Responsibility Index (a legislator rating scorecard); and a Taxpayer Pledge, which was signed by lawmakers who promised not to raise taxes. The group handed out "Taxpayer Champion Awards" to legislators who scored well on TFR's Fiscal Responsibility Index.
In 2012 and 2013, ''
Texas Monthly
''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...
'' and ''
The Texas Observer
''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3) Empower Texans filed a First Amendment lawsuit on the employees' behalf.
''Texas Scorecard'' was spun off into its own nonprofit entity in 2020. Former Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan became the publisher of the publication.
Activities
The group, which opposed Republican
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives. The Speaker's main duties are to conduct meetings of the House, appoint committees, and enforce the Rules of the House. The current s ...
Joe Straus
Joseph Richard Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, ...
, made $1.4 million in donations and in-kind contributions to anti-Straus candidates in the 2016 primary election.
In the 2018 Texas Republican primary elections, which were held on March 6, 2018, Empower Texans endorsed 34 candidates. A total of 13 endorsed candidates won, while 17 lost and four advanced to runoff primary elections in May 2018. Two of the group's notable victories were the defeat of state representatives
Jason Villalba
Jason Villalba (born March 26, 1971) is a politician and attorney who is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 114 in Dallas County. He works for the law firm Frost Brown Todd.
Villalba was defeated in ...
and
Wayne Faircloth
Fennis Wayne Faircloth, known as Wayne Faircloth (born March 10, 1953), is an insurance agent from Dickinson, Texas, who served two terms as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 23, which encompasses a portion ...
. It donated a total of $4.7 million to candidates during the 2018 election cycle.
In 2019, empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan secretly recorded then Speaker of the House
Dennis Bonnen
Dennis Higgins Bonnen (born March 3, 1972) is an American businessman and politician. Bonnen served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. A Republican, Bonnen represented District 25 of the Texas House from 1997 to ...
and then chair of the state’s House Republican Caucus
Dustin Burrows
Dustin Ray Burrows (born November 14, 1978) is an attorney and businessman in Lubbock, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 83. He has represented the 83rd district since January 2015. Burrows is ...
making negative comments about other legislators, and offering the group press credentials providing floor access in exchange for their working against moderate Republican members. On October 22, 2019, Bonnen announced that he would not seek re-election, paving the way for a new House speaker in the next session of the House. An investigation by the Texas Rangers ultimately concluded that Bonnen did not break any laws in the exchange.
In the 2020 election cycle, Empower Texans made endorsements in six state House races. As of June 2020, its political action committees had not yet reported any spending on the election cycle.
In June 2020, Empower Texans vice president Cary Cheshire and its general counsel Tony McDonald were recorded making derogatory comments about Texas Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 50th Tex ...
, including joking about his use of a wheelchair. Cheshire and McDonald were disciplined by the organization over the incident.