Campaign launched to improve democracy, reduce corruption, in McAllen

MCALLEN, Texas – A nonprofit group has launched a campaign to improve democracy and reduce the possibility of corruption in the City of McAllen.

Ground Game Texas wants to reduce the amount of money mayoral and city commission candidates can raise from individual campaign donors. The group also wants to give voters the opportunity to utilize three direct democracy powers – the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.

If those two things happened, the group argues, McAllen’s historically low voter turnout numbers would improve.

The group says it conducted an opinion poll in McAllen and found its ideas are popular with voters. It is currently securing signatures for a petition.

“One of the things that we heard from voters, when we approached them for other petitions, is they felt cynical about politics, they felt their voice didn’t matter. They felt that the system was corrupt and broken and they couldn’t fix it,” said Mike Siegel, political director, general counsel, and co-founder of Ground Game Texas, at a news conference held outside McAllen City Hall.

Ground Game Texas has worked in the Rio Grande Valley before. In the 2022 electoral cycle it conducted ballot measure campaigns in the cities of Alton and Edinburg in an effort to raise the minimum wage of city workers to at least $15 per hour.

Siegel said that in McAllen the group wants to “focus on corruption and the perception of corruption in city government.”

He explained: “One of the things we noticed about the City of McAllen is that the rules allow donors to give $10,000 at a time to candidates for mayor and $5,000 at the time for candidates for city commission. These are far greater amounts than those allowed in cities like Austin, where the maximum contribution is $450.”

And why is $10,000 or $5,000 bad, Siegel was asked.

“So you have this potential for a small group of donors who – when you look at the records are developers, lawyers, engineers – effectively buy access and potentially control of local officials,” Siegel responded.

For the opinion poll, Siegel said, Ground Game Texas contacted frequent voters from across the city of McAllen, including Democrats, Republicans, Independents. 

“We spoke to 661 of them to ask how they felt about local government and whether they thought we needed campaign finance reform. And 81 percent of respondents said they would support campaign finance reform.”

Siegel then explained why Ground Game Texas wants to see the three direct democracy powers – the initiative, the referendum, and the recall – introduced in McAllen.

“Texas cities tend to have three direct democracy powers: the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. They all go together. They’re all part of the same spirit, that in Texas we have self determination, that we control our own communities,” Siegel said.

“The initiative is when voters adopt policy directly through the ballot. The referendum is when they overrule a city commission decision that they don’t like. And the recall is when they remove office holders who don’t meet their values.”

Siegel said these three direct democracy powers can be found in the charters of most home rule cities. But, strangely, not McAllen’s.

“So, right now the McAllen city charter is unique. I have reviewed dozens of city charters in my work – I’m general counsel for Ground Game Texas. And almost every home rule city has all three of those powers in their charter. 

“McAllen is the only city that has none of those powers. I think there’s some deep, statutory history (in McAllen) that I don’t know about, because usually when you adopt a home rule charter, you have those powers in it. For some reason, McAllen might have taken it out at some point. So this would be adding three powers for local voters that currently don’t exist.”

Siegel is based in Austin, Texas. But his group does include local activists. Karen Salazar, a political science student at UT-Rio Grande Valley, is Ground Game Texas’ campaign coordinator in Hidalgo County. She was born in McAllen but now lives in Edinburg.

Salazar’s work includes finding locations where the group can collect signatures for its petition and enter the names into a database.

Salazar worked on Ground Game Texas’ living wage initiative in Edinburg and Alton.

“One of the things that I found really interesting was that a lot of people… even though I was going up to them for the first time talking about something as really popular as a living wage, their sentiment was like, why should I do this, why should I sign, what’s the point?” Salazar said.

Salazar said she was saddened to find such apathy and cynicism.

“As a political science student that really struck a chord with me because it was exactly what I was learning in class. And I was seeing it in person, and I was hearing it from people. I realized how important it is to talk to people, to get them motivated to engage in the political process, more than just electing candidates.”

Salazar added: “I think that this (McAllen) campaign is really important because it really does get people involved in the political process. It gets them motivated, it gets them excited for their communities, and it gives them a voice in their community.”

Asked why Ground Game Texas is recommending a $500 limit for campaign contributions in McAllen city commission elections, Salazar said Siegel could better answer the question. 

Siegel said: “Five hundred dollars seems very appropriate. If you think about the fact that a candidate for Congress can take $3,300 maximum, maybe $3,400. Now this is a person that’s going to run our entire country’s budget. There’s only 435 of them (U.S. Representatives) in the whole country, and the max they can take is just over $3,000. So why does a candidate for a local office in this city need more than $500?”

Siegel said if the maximum campaign contribution was reduced to $500, it would force McAllen mayoral or city commission candidates to broaden their base of support. 

“Right now, if you’re running for mayor and your budget is $100,000 to run a successful campaign, if you can find ten people (donating $10,000), that’s enough. If we reduce it (to $500) and you still need $100,000, that’s going to mean that you need to talk to more people, you need to win the support of a broader cross section of the community.”

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