by Mike Killalea, NSD president
Does Dan Patrick prefer money over principle and patriotism? One might be forgiven for thinking so. Despite urging, even from within his own party, the Texas lieutenant governor refuses to return the $3 million donation received from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, whose then-president held a six-hour-plus meeting with the notorious nazi incel Nick Fuentes.
Two other Republican lawmakers are giving away donations after Fuentes was seen visiting the office building associated with Defend Texas Liberty PAC President Jonathan Stickland. The meeting has roiled the party, prompting many Republicans to urger their peers to return PAC money, reported the Texas Tribune (1).
Patrick, however, declared that he will not return any of his big bucks. He remarked that the Stickland/Fuentes meeting was a “blunder,” but will take the money and run (for office, that is).
But wait, you say. $3 million bucks? How did that get past the campaign-limit sentinels? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. Texas is one of 11 states with zero limits on campaign contributions (2). And that blows.
Anyway, Stickland was out after the Texas Tribune reported the meeting. His replacement is Luke Macias, described by the Trib as a longtime conservative political consultant.
The PAC not only donates big time to Patrick, but also to Attorney General Ken Paxton, and other party members. According to the Trib, it is funded by oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks (3).
Patrick blamed the uproar over the Fuentes/Stickland confab on favored whipping boy House Speaker Dade Phelan. The Trib quotes Patrick as charging that Phelan ran a “smear campaign” against him (3).
The best quote came from Phelan’a Chief of Staff Enrique Marquez. Marquez on X wrote, “Meeting with a pro-rape, pro-Taliban, pro-Hitler, anti-Semitic Holocaust denier like Nick Fuentes for 6.5 (hours) is NOT a blunder.” (3)
Want to learn more about Fuentes? No? Don’t blame you. But if you do, click on this Wikipedia link.
The Doors could have had Patrick in mind when they wrote, “Money beats soul.”
Texas Tribune: https://tinyurl.com/4jksxjj2
Ballotpedia: https://tinyurl.com/5n75nxxc
Texas Tribune: https://tinyurl.com/yuz4kvra
Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/4s94m3ap
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