The Republicans & Terry Lowry: Buying Advertising Or Buying Support From The Religious Right?

Earlier this week, you will recall that CapitolAnnex.com reported that Carole Keeton Strayhorn, currently Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and an independent candidate for governor, gave $25,000 for a “sponsorship” to a company called “Find A Christian College,” run by Houston Christian broadcaster and Republican phampleteer Terry Lorwy, publisher of The Link Letter, and host of “What’s Up,” on Houston’s KTEK radio station.
Strayhorn, however, is not the only Republican politician or officeholder who has given Lowry, “Find A Christian College,” or Lowry’s other companies thousands and thousands of dollars for everything from polling and surveys to outright donations and gifts.

Lowry has been a well-known figure in Texas Republican Party politics since at least the early 1990s and is considered a major figure of the Religious Right in Texas.

“Find A Christian College,” one of Lowry’s associated groups, currently sports a defunct website and is incorporated in Texas. Although the certification of account status from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts does not indicate if the company is a non-profit organization, Lowry proclaims on his website that donations to the company (and to another of his projects, YourVoteCounts.us) are not tax deductible, which seems to indicate they are, in fact, not non-profits. If the group is not a non-profit, this raises the issue of use of political funds to “sponsor” or “donate” money to a for-profit company.
That hasn’t stopped Texas politicans from pouring money into Find A Christian College. Strayhorn recently gave the group $25,000 for a “sponsorship” even though the group’s website is out of service. Republican state representatives Dwayne Bohac, Talmadge Heflin, John Davis, and Robert Talton all have previous expenditures in Texas Ethics Commission filings that indicate they gave “donations” or “contributions” to Find A Christian College, though none were as large as Strayhorn’s. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson’s previous campaigns have also made contributions to the group. Other campaigns, however, have paid the group for “advertising.” A complete list is here.

Through Lowry’s YourVoteCounts.us, the broadcaster is evidently engaging in political consulting activities ranging from get out the vote efforts, consulting, and even public service announcements (list here). Clients through this project include ultra-conservative future state senator and fellow broadcaster Dan Patrick and the Harris County Republican Party.

And, Lowry has also received individual payments for various expenses from various candidates and the Harris County Republican Party to State Rep. John Davis (list here and here). In addition, he’s received significant funding for contributions and ads for his newsletter, Link Letter (here).
All of this also brings up the issue of whether Republicans, through their “donations” and “sponsorships” to Find A Christian College are actually sponsoring anything or simply buying endorsements that will go out to Lowry’s flock of Link Letter readers and What’s Up listeners.

From a 2002 archived email by political insider George Strong:

The Gossips hear that Terry Lowry told the Humble Pachyderms that Gary Polland had offered him $40,000 to endorse and un-named “incumbent” in his Link letter, a political report sent out to conservatives. The Gossips think that the un-named incumbent was Mike Stafford, our County Attorney. When told about Lowry’s remark, Mike Stafford immediately requested an opportunity to speak to the Pachyderm Club to “set the record straight. Wow, $40K for an endorsement. The Gossip is in the wrong business.

Two election cycles later, such rumors persist even more, following Strayhorn’s $25,000 “sponsorship.” Perhaps a future edition of the radio show or the Link Letter will tell whether the $25,000 was to actually “sponsor” something, or to purchase an endorsement to the kool-aide drinking Lowry disciples.