-

Making an Impact

The suit, filed against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott... accuses Abbott of targeting minority voters in his prosecution of the provisions in a "deliberate campaign to suppress the minority vote."...

The group behind the lawsuit is the Lone Star Project
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/22/2006)

The Democrats at the Lone Star Project say U.S. Attorney General Al Gonzales and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in San Antonio blew their chance to bring justice to the Texas Youth Commission sexual abuse case.
(Houston Chronicle Blog, 3/15/2007)

David Dewhurst has said most Texans don't have much sympathy "for someone who that can't fill out a two page [health insurance] application every six months".

The Democrat-supported Lone Star Project in Washington reported this week that Dewhurst failed to file necessary forms at least six times in recent years.
(San Antonio Expres News,, 4/12/2007)

The Justice staff memo was obtained by the Lone Star Project ...The story broke the same day the U.S. Supreme Court was considering legal challenges to the plan brought by Democrats and minority groups.
(Houston Chronicle, 12/3/2005)

Using the Lone Star Project as an information clearinghouse for all things DeLay. The organization "particularly became relevant as the unethical activities of Tom DeLay came more to light."
(The Fix – Washington Post,3/6/2006)

What's more, the relevant 73-page memo "has been kept under tight wraps" since then. That memo is now publicly available, here in PDF at the Lone Star Project.
(Hotline, 12/2/2005)

Baseline Analysis of Texas Governor's Race Strayhorn’s Task Harder and Bell’s Chances Better than Assumed The unusual multi-candidate gubernatorial field in Texas has created an environment that may defy current conventional wisdom.  Particularly, early observers may be overestimating the ability of Carole Strayhorn to garner a plurality of support in a potential four candidate field without the base of support that a party nomination provides.  Conversely, although Chris Bell has raised relatively little money to date, he won the Democratic primary easily and has a voting record and political history virtually all Democrats, and some true independents, can embrace. An analysis of the four-candidate field, based on projected voter turnout in 2006, shows that in order to compete and win, Strayhorn would have to run a campaign that simultaneously cuts deeply into the expected Republican vote that would otherwise go to Rick Perry AND cut significantly into the expected Democratic vote that would otherwise go to Bell.  Gaining a little from both won’t work, and cutting deeply into one, but not the other, falls short as well.  The Lone Star Project developed a model to help forecast the election results for Texas Governor.  An explanation of the model and the Lone Star Project’s conclusions are offered below.  However, you can use the model to develop your own forecast online at the Lone Star Project Vote Simulator. Read the rest of full release or in PDF
Strayhorn Has Not Stopped Payments to All Washington DC Lobbyists Texas Payments to Lobbyist with Ties to Strayhorn and DeLay Continue Texas Comptroller Carol Strayhorn’s decision to suspend payments to the Washington lobby firm of Cassidy and Associates may, on first blush, seem like a timely and responsible act.  However, upon closer examination, Strayhorn’s actions appear to have stopped far short of halting improper payments to lobbyists and raise questions about her own close relationship with Washington lobbyists who have political ties to Tom DeLay. Strayhorn Statement Inconsistent With Her Actions In her statement announcing the payment suspension, Strayhorn said, “Texas state law clearly prohibits tax dollars being spent to lobby the state legislature and prohibits spending for influencing or supporting candidates at the state or federal level.  By any measure, using tax dollars to pay a private firm to lobby the federal government or members of Congress is a wholly inappropriate and unwise use of public money.”  (Strayhorn Press Release, 3/22/06)  However, Strayhorn is still allowing large lobby payments to the DC based Federalist Group to continue. Read the rest of full release or in PDF
Assessing DeLay's Damage to Texas Congressional Clout Congressional Redistricting and DeLay's Ethics Problems Cost Texas Clout While the media and politicians typically focus on the partisan battles that take place in Congress, many important decisions, particularly the appropriation of funds, are settled on a regional basis where seniority and key committee leadership play an important role.  While Tom DeLay delivered a valuable political gift to national Republicans with Texas redistricting, he placed a burden on Texas citizens fighting for their fair share of federal resources.  In the process, he lost his own leadership position, put his political career at risk, and squandered his ability to assist his home state.  DeLay’s most repeated quote, “I’m the Majority Leader, and I want more seats” (Source: Washington Post, 1/19/2003) now has an ironic twist.  Republicans do indeed have more seats, but DeLay is no longer the Leader and Texas voters no longer benefit from a powerful House delegation in Congress. Read the whole press release or view the pdf

The Lone Star Project is an activity of the Lone Star Fund.

Contributions to this committee are not tax deductible.  Federal law requires political committees to use our best efforts to report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer for each individual whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year.  The Lone Star Fund accepts federal contributions from individuals, partnerships, and other federal political committee of up to $5,000 per calendar year.