Selected 2018 County Primary Financial Contributions

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In the 2016 WCSB election, there was a common group of donors who contributed to the slate of Tea Party/912-endorsed candidates. The same seven candidates were also endorsed by either the Williamson County Republican Party or the Republican Women of Williamson County. You’ll recall that all seven candidates lost.

There have been no endorsements made for the county primaries except by the Williamson Business PAC, but we can look at the common donors to get an idea of which candidates fall in line with the Tea Party/912 fringe.

In 2016, Cyndi and Tracy Miller contributed $3000 to six WCSB candidates, and brother Andy Miller contributed $1000 to Jennifer Luteran. In 2014 the Millers donated $1000 to Curlee and $500 each to Burgos and Emerson and hosted campaign kickoff parties for Curlee and Burgos.

Stuart Anderson donated $500 each to four candidates and also to Jeremy Durham. William Morgan contributed $250 to all seven candidates in the Tea Party/912-endorsed cadre.

Here’s the breakdown so far for the 2018 Republican primary. The Millers, Anderson, and Morgan have contributed to nine County Commission candidates and to Register of Deeds candidate Julie Hannah.

1. D4 Gregg Lawrence (incumbent) and Chad Story
   

2. In Q2 after the May primary, Stuart Anderson donated $1000 each to Lawrence and Story; William Morgan donated an additional $150 to Lawrence, and Franklin Alderman Bev Burger donated $150 to Lawrence as well.

3. D6 Don Barnett

4. D7 Jennifer Luteran and Christopher Richards

5. D8 Barb Sturgeon (incumbent)

6. D9 Todd Kaestner (incumbent) and Robert Peterman

7. D12 Ned Williams

You can see all of the candidates’ financial disclosures here.

Franklin Alderman Bev Burger didn’t appear on anyone’s Q1 financial disclosure except Todd Kaestner’s, but she has a check for D12 County Commission candidate Ned Williams. His campaign materials indicate that he’s targeting Burger’s anti-WCS/”sell the hospital” crowd. Recall that Burger worked hard to defeat 2014 WCSB incumbents and elect a secretly coordinated slate of her vetted and preferred candidates. She was a huge booster of Susan Curlee, Beth Burgos, Candy Emerson, and Dan Cash. In 2016, she contributed $125 to D4 WCSB candidate Joey Czarneski and hosted his campaign kickoff. (Czarneski also received campaign contributions from the folks mentioned in the post above plus 912er J. Lee Douglas and Rep. Glen Casada.)

You might have noticed that D11 incumbent Brandon Ryan, a consistent WCS adversary, is noticeably missing from this list. He got the next best thing, an endorsement from 2016 WCSB D5 candidate Julie Mauck. Mauck, one of the Tea Party/912 candidates, received campaign contributions from the Millers and William Morgan. She lost her D5 race to WCSB Chairman Gary Anderson 392 to 1038. Mauck lives in Nolensville, nowhere near Ryan’s district 11.

See our Republican Ballot article for links to candidates’ Facebook pages, profiles, and videos, as well as notes about school-related votes and quotes about candidates’ views on public education and its funding.