Illegal? No. Sketchy? Yes.
In our last report on Dallas-based Texas House District 108 we noted that Democratic candidate Liz Ginsberg had manipulated a campaign loan in a way that, while technically legal, is unusual. A number of people have asked us to explain our point, so we’ve looked at the transactions more closely.
Ginsberg moved $25,000 into her campaign in the form of a loan from her husband last summer. The funds were moved shortly before a campaign filing period deadline in what looks to be an attempt to bolster weak fundraising. That alone is not unusual. However, Ginsberg’s next move was.
Instead of using the funds to advance her campaign and supplement support from donors – like nearly all other candidates who move family money into their campaigns – Ginsberg transferred $25,000 back to her husband barely 10 weeks later, taking it from the scarce funds she had received from donors. In fact, 19% of all funds raised and 40% of the money Ginsberg received from individual donors during the reporting period was used up by the large money transfer to her husband. Worst still, all of these moves were made before Ginsberg had even formally filed as a candidate for the HD 108 Democratic nomination.
So, Ginsberg didn’t move family money to bolster fundraising, to supplement her donors, or even to make a personal investment in her own campaign. Instead, she apparently moved the money to conceal weak fundraising and to artificially inflate her campaign’s liquidity. Since then, she has posted misleading appeals on her Facebook page saying “We will spend 100% of your donation on direct contact…” Instead of being upfront with donors, it looks more like Liz was trying put one over on them. Ginsberg’s moves might be legal, but it’s also fair to call them sneaky and deceptive.
From the outset, Liz Ginsberg has faced the challenge of explaining a big loss in 2022 where she underperformed other Democrats on the ballot, running over 11,000 votes and 13 percentage points behind Morgan Meyer. Rather than retool her 2022 campaign and redouble her fundraising efforts, Liz is rerunning the failed 2022 effort and using sketchy campaign accounting to make things look better than they are.
Our closer look reinforces our view that Yasmin Simon is the Democratic candidate best prepared to take on and defeat Morgan Meyer in the fall.
House District 108 in Dallas is one of only a half-dozen or so competitive Republican-held Legislative districts in Texas. It slightly favors Republicans and is held by Morgan Meyer, who has a damning MAGA voting record that has never been exposed to HD 108 voters. For Democrats to win, it requires a strong and well-funded candidate who is able to build a coalition of partisan Democrats and then less partisan but fair-minded voters to win. As the Lone Star Project laid out late last month, we believe Yasmin Simon is the best choice. Simon has proved to be a natural candidate able to connect to voters across the political spectrum, and she is a strong fundraiser, raising more from individuals than even incumbent, Morgan Meyer.
