Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) is an

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

-based non-profit group founded in 1997 to take on

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

and corporate abuses 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 ...

, United States. Their early focus was on tracking campaign contributions in Texas and elsewhere, including contributions to

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's campaign in the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections. The group lodged the original complaints which led to the now overturned conviction of former US Representative

Tom Delay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...

, as well as former Texas Governor

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

's August 2014 felony indictment. It has been accused of being "funded by out-of-state foundations and rich individuals to specialize in "

lawfare Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter individual's usage of their legal rights.''Unrestricted Warfare''p. 55 The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against ...

" against state officials of whose policies they disapprove". Craig McDonald, a Michigan native, founded the organization and is its current Director. He began his career on the political left via the public interest movement in the late-1970s working as a

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

. Working for Ralph Nader's Public Citizen activist group in 1984, he went on to create the Texas office of Public Citizen in that same year. According to TPJ, its board of directors includes, in addition to McDonald, two other veterans of Nader's Public Citizen; a former aide to the late Texas Democratic Gov. Ann Richards who was also a Clinton-Gore organizer; and a journalist who "has written for numerous progressive publications." McDonald claims that TPJ only reveals its institutional funders and doesn't reveal its individual supporters for fear of political retaliation. He said he doesn't consider that policy in conflict with the group's work in highlighting the impact of money in politics. The group receives monies from

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

, the Piper Foundation, the

Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States ...

, the Winkler Family Foundation, and Good Jobs First. Its 2005 tax return showed "Texas trial lawyers as major contributors."

References

External links

* {{Authority control Non-profit organizations based in Texas Political corruption in the United States Organizations established in 1997 Campaign finance reform in the United States 1997 establishments in Texas