07.31.07
Craddick’s been putting away the groceries
Roadside panhandlers call it “flying the cardboard.” Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) calls begging for food a campaign expense. According to campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission (and summarized wonderfully here), Speaker Craddick spent $22,976.10 at H-E-B during the January-to-June reporting cycle.
To be fair, the regular session of the 80th Legislature occurred during this reporting period; however that still works out to $128 for each day of the 180-day session. That’s a lot of Rice Krispies. So much that the groceries were running 5 percent of the $455,023 spent out of Craddick’s campaign cash.
One wonders if his contributors are aware that Craddick’s literally eating on their nickel. The expenses are all payments to “HEB Credit Receivables”, so apparently the Speaker was running a tab at the grocery store. H-E-B does sell many non-food items. Perhaps we should search Craddick’s capitol apartment for tiki torches and plastic patio furniture.