The radio ad, which you can hear here, includes the following paragraph I wish some Democrats would use come November:

“We’ve seen it all before: money laundering, political action committees, corporate cash. And they think you just won’t notice. They believe that using secret slush funds to buy their own politician is just another day at the office.”

To date, 90 percent of Christian’s contributions have come from Leininger. Of course, in a vain attempt to get himself elected, Christian claims he’s against school vouchers. Here’s what he told the Nacgodoches Daily Sentinel:

“I will never vote for rural vouchers in my district,” the former state representative and financial consultant from Center said. “It’s not an issue.”

Of course, that’s a catch-22. Christian can vote for voucher pilot programs anywhere else in the state and still keep that lame-ass promise. Then, of course, when they spread like wildfire, he can just sit back and let them roll into his district.

All this is of particular interest given that Blake is not one of the Hochberg 14 that voted for the Hochberg amendment to HB2. He, in fact, voted against it. Only these 14 Republicans voted for the amendment:
Brown (Fred), Casteel, Geren, Goodman, Goolsby, Griggs, Haggerty, Hamilton, Hunter, Jones (Delwin), Kuempel, Merritt, Pitts, Reyna.

So, clearly, it’s not just the Hochberg 14 that Republicans are targeting: It’s all anti-voucher candidates.

The Lufkin Daily News has an interesting editorial on the topic as well:

It just doesn’t sound right, that a San Antonio businessman can unabashedly funnel $150,000 to an East Texas candidate for the sole purpose of furthering his pet cause.

It doesn’t sound right because it isn’t.

Oh, it may be legal, but the idea that someone with absolutely no discernible ties to a district can have such a significant impact on who its next state representative will be is one of the reasons the term “campaign finance” carries such a negative connotation.

The case we’re talking about, of course, is that of Wayne Christian of Center, who is trying to get his old District 9 state representative job back from Roy Blake of Nacogdoches. The district covers Nacogdoches, Jasper, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby counties.

Christian has gotten $150,000, give or take, of his $172,630 in campaign donations for this year’s election from Dr. James Leininger, who has given more than $1.4 million — through legal loopholes — to opponents of just five Republican officials who fought school voucher proposals last year, according to a Dallas Morning News story.

It may turn out, even if Christian wins, that it was money wasted: Christian says he has no intention of voting to allow the use of vouchers in his rural district. But, as Blake says, that’s not the point.

What matters is the perception that, if you want something done in Texas and you’ve got enough money, you can pretty much buy your own votes.

Some days, state Rep. Charlie Geren can almost feel the target on his back.

Geren faces Chris Hatley, a retired Army Lt. Colonel, and Colby W. Brown, a Tarrant County probation officer in the March 7 GOP Primary.
The article also notes some about Bob Perry’s money in this race and uses a term I haven’t heard before, “Hochberg 14″:

Last year, Geren was one of 14 state lawmakers, called the Hochberg 14, who were informally targeted for supporting Democratic state Rep. Scott Hochberg’s amendment to the GOP’s school-finance plan. Several of those GOP lawmakers, including Geren, have drawn candidates for the Republican primary.

Early campaign reports show Geren has raised more than $160,000 for his re-election bid, including $5,000 from his parents, Preston and Colleen Geren; $3,500 from the Kip Averitt campaign; and $3,000 each from Pat Craine, Dan and Sallee Craine, and Joe Craine, all with Miller Distributors.

Meanwhile, Hatley has raised nearly $19,000, including $17,500 from Texas contractor Bob Perry, a key GOP donor who helped fund Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of conservatives that worked to question Sen. John Kerry’s war record during the 2004 presidential campaign.

“Mr. Perry is a good conservative, and he believes in my campaign,” Hatley said.

Geren said he doesn’t know why Perry, no relation to Gov. Rick Perry, is helping his opponent.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to make Mr. Perry angry,” Geren said. “He hasn’t gotten back with me yet.”

Hatley also has picked up more than $600 in in-kind donations from Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio — a conservative who through the years has donated countless thousands of dollars to causes such as school vouchers, home schooling and abortion opposition — for volunteer recruitment, campaign staffers said.

Brown’s campaign finance reports show no contributions, although he said he likely will give himself a loan.

The winner of the March 7 Republican primary will face Democrat Sheila Ford in November’s general election. Early voting starts Feb. 21 and runs through March 3.

Texas House District 99 includes parts of north and west Fort Worth. It also includes Blue Mound, Lakeside, Lake Worth, Pelican Bay, River Oaks, Sansom Park, Westover Hills, Westworth Village and White Settlement, and parts of Azle, Haslet and Saginaw.