WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn has raised $45 million for his three Senate campaigns. And even without much of a fight this year, he’s had ready access to big money from donors across a range of industries.
In the last two years, he’s collected more from the oil and gas and health care sectors than any other senator. Defense contractors, bankers, insurers, and lobbyists have also filled his coffers.
As deputy leader of a party on the verge of taking control of the Senate, the Texas Republican has a high profile and growing clout.
“If you’re an investor or a doctor or anyone in the health care industry in Texas, you’d be wise to get to know Senator Cornyn,” said health care lobbyist Thomas Scully, who was administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President George W. Bush.
Energy industry leaders agree.
“Senator Cornyn is an expert on oil and gas,” said Jim Noe, an energy executive in Houston. “Even if you didn’t have any access to him, and no reason to call on him, knowing that he knows your industry — why wouldn’t you want him in the Senate in important leadership and committee roles?”
Cornyn has raised $14.1 million for his re-election in the last two years and holds nearly a 3-1 edge over challenger David Alameel. The Dallas investor and dentist has personally bankrolled his campaign.
Cornyn is “a business-oriented, governing conservative, and so are most of his supporters,” said Michael J. Malbin, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, drawing a contrast with tea party politicians who may struggle to raise such large sums. “They’re doing it not because they have a specific bill or policy in mind, but because they expect that they may at some point and are maintaining access.”
The incumbent called the support vital in an age in which independent super PACs can “carpet bomb” any candidate with as much as they can raise and spend.
The donations “reflect the fact that people in those sectors support my principles and my approach to governing,” Cornyn said.
With national defense a top federal duty, he added: “I wouldn’t find it odd that people in the defense sector are supportive. Oil and gas — that almost answers itself. Texas is the premier energy state in the country, and they feel like they’re under siege” by the Obama administration’s environmental regulators.
Cornyn’s biggest donors generally weren’t eager to talk in depth about their support.
“Lockheed Martin is proud to support a number of members [of Congress] who are concerned about a strong national security and other issues of importance to the corporation,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Allen. With $146,000 in donations, the defense contractor tops Cornyn’s all-time list.
At Valero Energy (No. 8), vice president Bill Day said that the company “prefers not to discuss political contributions beyond what’s in our publicly available findings.”
At Exxon Mobil (No. 2), spokesman Alan Jeffers said the company’s political action committee “provides financial support to pro-business candidates to help ensure a stable climate for long-term business opportunities and investments.”
Noe — executive vice president of Houston-based Hercules Offshore and head of a coalition of Gulf of Mexico drillers that operate in shallow waters — was more eager to explain the industry’s regard for Cornyn.
He recalled walking into Cornyn’s office after the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Pressure was intense to shut down all offshore drilling, even the less-risky kind in shallow waters.
“He knew that my operations were different from the deep water operations without my explaining that to him,” Noe said. “It’s a rare instance where we have someone in Congress, let alone in a leadership position, that understands our challenges.”
Environmentalists have a dimmer view.
The League of Conservation Voters gives Cornyn a 5 percent lifetime rating. Tiernan Sittenfeld, the group’s senior vice president for government affairs, called him a “real barrier” to progress on climate change, clean water and air, and a shift to renewable fuels.
“You look at his voting record, 95 times out of a 100 he votes against the environment and against public health. He is standing very firmly with the polluting special interests,” she said. “It’s no coincidence that he is the top recipient of their money.”
More than most senators, Cornyn benefited from the efforts of lobbyists.
Since June 2013, lobbyists have rounded up $1.2 million for Cornyn — enough to propel him to the top tier of that category in the Senate.
A 5-year-old law requires lawmakers disclose donations “bundled” by registered lobbyists.
The Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group, reported in June that “an army of lobbyists volunteered” to help Cornyn fend off Rep. Steve Stockman, a Houston-area tea partier, in the March primary.
Many of the bundlers lobby for some of Cornyn’s top donors: Goldman Sachs investment bank, Lockheed Martin, and Koch Industries, controlled by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
Democratic leaders also relied on bundlers. Lobbyists have brought in over $1 million for Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and $1.3 million for New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who has close ties to Wall Street.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader, reported only about $35,000.
Cornyn said that during his nearly two years as deputy leader, and four years before that chairing the party’s Senate campaign arm, “I met a lot of people all around the country, people who want to see Republicans succeed and have been willing to help me.”
His rank in the GOP makes Cornyn especially attractive to donors. So does his position on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, along with tax and trade policy.
Cornyn has collected $1 million since last year from securities and investment companies. That’s more than all but two senators, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign money.
“Those are all things that Wall Street looks at very closely,” said Mike Chapman, a partner at D.C. Strategies, a financial services lobbying firm. “It’s no surprise that somebody with his seniority and committee assignments would be successful in that area.”
Corporate tax reform would affect many businesses. With the issue stalled in a gridlocked Congress, donors may be trying to collect chits for the future.
“There could be some long-term positioning there,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, a left-leaning advocacy group.
San Antonio-based USAA, which offers insurance and banking to military families, ranks as Cornyn's No. 3 all-time donor, giving $135,650 since his 2002 campaign.
Spokesman Roger Wildermuth noted that Cornyn has pushed hiring for veterans. He also helped fend off provisions that would have hurt the company when Congress crafted the Dodd-Frank law in 2010. The law tightened regulations on Wall Street and many financial firms.
He noted that Cornyn “grew up in a military family, and in the Senate he’s been a stalwart supporter of military families and a champion for their financial security.”
If Republicans win the Senate next month and the White House in 2016, donors will find Cornyn ever more intriguing, said Dan Mendelson, chief executive of the advisory firm Avalere Health and a former Clinton administration official.
“He is from the largest red state,” he said, “and that in and of itself would be a very good reason to contribute.”
tgillman@dallasnews.com;
krailey@dallasnews.com
AT A GLANCE: Top donors
Sen. John Cornyn has raised about $45.6 million since his first Senate bid in 2002. His top donors in that time:
Lockheed Martin: $146,450
Exxon Mobil: $139,650
USAA: $135,650
Locke Lord law firm: $132,400
JP Morgan Chase & Co.: $113,147
Bass Brothers Enterprises: $98,650
Bracewell & Giuliani law firm: $88,350
Valero Energy: $88,050
Haynes & Boone law firm: $86,615
Goldman Sachs: $85,900
NOTE: For corporations barred from donating to federal candidates, the totals reflect support from political action committees, employees and family members and other affiliates.
SOURCE: Center for Responsive Politics
On Twitter: @toddgillman @kimberlyrailey
