Filing Woes & Blurred Lines for the 2023 Pro-Airport McKinney Above the Rest PAC

I wanted to document experiences with this particular PAC leading up to the $200M commercial airport bond measure. Hopefully, when the next one comes around in 3-5 years, citizens will more savvy to the blurred lines between PACs, politicians, and governmental entities.

In early March of 2023, a website appeared called McKinney Above the Rest. George Fuller, the mayor of McKinney and a proponent of the effort to get the bond measure for a commercial airport passed, was prominent on the site. Fuller advertised its existence on 3/13/23 in a Facebook post. An ad on the website showed a connection to McKinney Above the Rest, Inc. At the time, the website did not indicate it was a PAC as well as a corporation.

After seeing the website and the reference to a corporation, I researched a bit. I learned that McKinney Above the Rest, Inc. filed articles of incorporation with the state on March 7, 2023. Its members are listed below from CorporationWiki.com, last refreshed on January 23, 2024. As of the date this article was published, the corporation still exists with those members. 

The corporation comprises prominent McKinney influencers: a former mayor who is a current member of the MEDC, the current mayor, a bank owner, a land developer, and someone from the local chamber of commerce. Most of its members have previously been involved in or run their own PACs promoting candidates and school district bonds. But this was not an official PAC yet, which was confusing. I had not seen this type of structure promoting a bond before.

I did not know if a corporation could start a website and promote bonds without filing as a PAC. I could not find anything on the state or city level regarding any filings for a PAC. Several weeks passed with no one knowing what was going on. Was it a PAC? If it was, why was there no paperwork on file for it? I assumed a group of individuals like this would know what they were doing. There were no other venues for me to inquire about it anyway. The Texas Ethics Commission told me to file a complaint if I thought there was an issue. A complaint would take months and months to be heard. I still had no idea if anything wrong was going on. Meanwhile, pro-airport advertisements were circulating, and pro-airport signs began to be distributed around the town.

On March 27^th, since there was still no clear information on the corporation vs PAC identity of the website, I emailed McKinney’s city secretary to see if anything had been filed on a city level. McKinney’s city secretary said that nothing had been filed with them. There was still nothing filed on a state level.

Finally, on March 31^st, a campaign treasurer was appointed by a Specific Purpose Committee to support Proposition A (the commercial airport) on the ballot on 5/6/23. It was filed with the city of McKinney. This SPAC called itself McKinney Above the Rest. Advertisements continued. No other forms were filed indicating who was contributing and what the money was being spent on. More signs appeared throughout the town.

On April 6^th, a month before the election, a full month after the PAC started getting and spending money, the PAC filed its first campaign finance form since appointing a treasurer. This late filing showed all the funding sources:

On 3/9/23, Craig International (associated with David Craig) gave $10,000, David Johnson (a construction person in Dallas) gave another $10,000, and Franklin Land (a relation of a sitting city councilmember) gave $500.
On 3/13/23, North Texas Natural Select Materials gave $5,000, RPM X Construction gave $5,000, and SRS Distribution gave $10,000.
Those amounts total $40,500 taken in by the PAC, well before a treasurer appointment was filed on 3/31/23. During this time, the PAC also paid over $14,000 in advertising.

According to the Texas Ethics Commission’s PAC Guide, McKinney Above the Rest PAC did not file for a treasurer when required. It states, “Neither a general-purpose committee nor a specific-purpose committee may accept political contributions totaling more than $980 without first filing a campaign treasurer appointment.” See Pg 8 of the PAC Guide (Campaign FinanceGuide for Political Committees). It is also the case that a PAC cannot spend over $980 without first filing a campaign treasurer appointment. McKinney Above the Rest PAC did both.

At this time, I decided to file a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission because the PAC was not being transparent by following the rules of the TEC. The sole purpose of these clear filing rules is to prevent what happened—a month when citizens were prevented from learning who was advertising and bankrolling the money behind the pro-airport push. This PAC was not a group of citizens inexperienced in the ways of PACs, this was a group with the money behind it to consult experts. These people had been in PACs before or had their own PACs. McKinney Above the Rest PAC appointed a treasurer who works as a VP of a large bank. This PAC had the means and experience to do this right.

I wanted to file a complaint against the PAC itself. I did not have that option. The complaint requires a person to be named. I filed the complaint against George Fuller (as he himself disclosed at a pro-airport function before the election). He was the figurehead on the website and ads. He was a member of the corporation. He was leading the social media campaign. He was hosting events. In hindsight, I should have filed it against the treasurer, but this was my first time filing an ethics complaint. Live and learn.

In the back-and-forth of information I got, George Fuller said he ended his membership in the PAC (but not in the corporation?) before the filing issues, so he was not responsible. The outcome of the complaint is unknown to me. The TEC emailed me in September of 2023 (a full five months after I filed) stating that the final disposition was confidential:

Here are the rest of the PAC filings with info about each, several were filed incorrectly or late:

3/7/23 to 4/6/23 filing submitted on April 6^th. This was filed much later than required.

5/7/23 to 4/28/23 (this is not a typo; it is the actual information from the filing) filing submitted on May 3^rd. The May filing was late too. It was supposed to be filed a full EIGHT days before the election.
The filing shows David Brooks (Independent Bank) and Kimley Horn each gave $5,000.

4/7/23 to 4/28/23 filed late on June 9^th. This filing was to correct the previous filing.

 4/28/23 to 7/13/23 filing submitted on July 14^th.

The filing shows the following:
5/2- HNTB Corporation (aviation-related out of MO) contributed $5,000.
6/26-Chamber of Commerce (political action) contributed $11,472.22
6/28-Payment to Sky Synergy for the forum at Local Yokel
Advertisements, marketing, and reimbursement to the chamber for $65,799.04

The PAC was dissolved on July 14^th too.

Another TEC complaint was filed against the McKinney Above the Rest PAC’s treasurer for untimely filings. That complaint is still pending nearly TEN months later.

I will update this page if I get updates related to this PAC.

*Note that George Fuller had another complaint filed against him during the same election period as the airport bond. This complaint regarded electioneering for MISD candidates during a joint MISD and city council meeting. He was fined $500. See ruling here 3230362.pdf (state.tx.us)

During the time leading up to the airport bond election, Mayor Fuller held three different forum-type events to promote the bond. Each time one was advertised, people were left confused as to what they would get if they attended the forum. Was this an official city event? If it were, it would have been an informational event—just the facts. Was this a PAC event? If it were, the event would persuade people to vote for the bond by presenting a slanted viewpoint. It was very hard to tell if he was personally hosting and paying for these events on his own or if the PAC was doing it.
See the examples below:

At the first event, Mayor Fuller held an event at his own venue with a city airport bond committee member. We had to wait until the filings to see if it was a PAC event or if he paid for everything on his own.

At another event, it was also unclear who was paying. Who was paying the city’s airport consultant to attend? Was it the city, Fuller, or the PAC? We had to wait a while to find out. 

It was the same story at the last event. Who was paying Garver to attend? Was it the city, Fuller, or the PAC? All of these types of events should be clearly labeled so people don't have to guess or wait until paperwork is filed.