Individual Contributors, Political Action Committees Respond to Congressman Vela's Urgent Plea for Funds

Filemon and Rose Vela

On September 27, 2013 we received this "personalized" message from Congressman Filemon Vela:

Jim,

In 72 hours we are facing one of the biggest fundraising deadlines yet.  We must knock it out of the park if we're going to keep fighting for the issues that matter most to South Texas.  

Can I ask you to pitch in and help me reach my goal by rushing an urgent contribution to my campaign right now?

Filemon

With the release by the Federal Election Commission of the October 2013 quarterly campaign finance reports, I was curious to see how Congressman Vela fared with his "urgent" request for campaign contributions.  

According to the FEC's F3N form filed October 15, 2013 Vela for Congress received individual contributions of $89,255.07 for the 7/1/2013 to 9/30/2013 quarter.  Political Action Committees added another $32.000 to the Vela campaign for the same period for total contributions of $121,255.07.  What Vela actually "knocked out of the park" with these monies were $100,000 in personal loans to his own campaign.  In other words, for every dollar contributed to the Vela campaign in this critical period, 82.5 cents went straight into Vela's pocket to reimburse him for loans he had made to his own campaign.  Of course, this is perfectly legal and the campaign has not yet totally reimbursed the candidate for his personal contributions.

Alex Begum

Most generous were fellow attorneys with several doubling down, issuing an individual and law group contribution.  Maxing out were familiar names like Trey Martinez(Tony's son), Alex Begum, Michael Cowen, Eddie Trevino, Jr., etc. for a total contribution from lawyers alone this past quarter of $30,250 or 33,9% of all individual contributions.

In terms of financial loyalty to the Vela campaign, no company comes close to Ambiotec, an engineering firm headed by Carlos Marin.  While Elena Marin, Carlos' wife maxed out at a contribution of $2600, her husband Carlos was credited with a contribution of $3770.37 including "in kind catering."(If I knew Photoshop I would put a chef's cap on Marin's head.)  Below is a list of Ambiotec employees who willingly contributed to the Vela campaign:

Annemarie Whitko. . . . . . $1,000
Elena Marin . . . . . . . . . . $2,600
Carlos Marin  . . . . . . . . . $3,770.37
Jose Albert Tamayo . . . .  $500
John Clint . . . . . . . . . . . .  $1,500
Vicente Mendez . . . . . . . . $1,000
Mark Haws . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,000
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11,370.37

Moses Mercado

In an earlier report Vela showed contributions from two prominent Washington lobbyists who specialize in backing latino candidates, Moses Mercado with Ogilvy Government Relations and Lawrence Gonzalez from the Raben Group, both headquartered in Washington D.C.

Louis Jones of Dannebaum Engineering was also a heavy contributor.  An oddly named P.A.C., the National Cotton Council for the Advancement of Cotton from Cordova, TN gave $3,000 to the campaign.  Border Health P.A.C. added $15,000 and the American Association of Justice $10,000.  

Jerry Mchale

The long, long list of disbursements included the usual suspects: McBreeden, Elite, etc. but a couple of surprises.  Local blues guitarist Emilio Crixell was awarded $400 from the campaign for canvassing while Brownsville Blues publisher Jerry Mchale was given $300 for providing the same service.  Jerry's address was listed as 912 E. Washington, the location of the Historic Cameron Hotel, where the popular blog is headquartered.


Also noteworthy is that the Filemon Vela for Congress office has moved. Originally located at 333 Ebony, then 1264 Lantana Lane in Brownsville, the office has been moved to San Antonio.  The new address is 2929 Mossrock Street, San Antonio, Texas.