A political action committee created to promote the expansion of McKinney’s city-owned airport with residents’ property tax dollars has been hit with a $2,500 fine for violating state campaign ethics laws.
McKinney Above the Rest PAC was formed last year to support a $200 million airport bond proposition that city council members had placed on the May 2023 ballot.
The Texas Ethics Commission found that McKinney Above the Rest PAC’s treasurer, a local bank executive, failed to timely report “substantial” financial activity, causing “serious harm to disclosure.”
PAC donors included developers and contractors who stood to benefit from the airport expansion. Several have ties to current and former McKinney city officials including Mayor George Fuller, an outspoken proponent of the airport expansion and bond.
The proposed bond, estimated to cost $380 million with interest, would have spent local property taxes to add a commercial passenger terminal to McKinney National Airport.
McKinney voters rejected the bond 59-41 percent.
Fairview resident Tim Murphy filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission against McKinney Above the Rest PAC’s treasurer, Robb Temple.
Temple is the chief government affairs officer of Independent Financial, part of the McKinney-based Independent Bank Group headed by David Brooks—a former McKinney City Councilman and a top contributor to the pro-bond PAC. Temple was appoint PAC treasurer by Brian Loughmiller, who heads the McKinney Economic Development Corporation.
Murphy alleged that Temple filed late and inaccurate campaign finance reports, hiding information from voters about who was behind the bond until the election was over.
After reviewing the reports filed by Temple on behalf of the PAC, the TEC agreed.
In an order finalized on March 25, TEC commissioners concluded that “substantial unreported activity had occurred” within the McKinney Above the Rest PAC, violating Texas election code.
Most notably, the documents revealed that the respondent had not reported a $46,000 expenditure for a mailer campaign at the time it was incurred. …
Neither did the respondent report $16,913.84 in in-kind contributions from the McKinney Chamber of Commerce to the PAC, or an $11,472.22 monetary contribution from an organization called “CIVBIC” to the PAC.
CIVBIC is the McKinney Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee.
The TEC found that “because the respondent’s corrections come months after the election, they can only partly rectify the harm to public disclosure.”
While Temple failed to disclose some PAC contributions and expenditures, incurring a $2,500 penalty, others he did report appear to have violated another ethics rule.
According to the TEC, specific-purpose committees like McKinney Above the Rest must have a campaign treasurer appointment on file before accepting contributions or making expenditures that exceed $1,050.
Temple filed his PAC campaign treasurer appointment with the TEC on March 31, 2023.
But the PAC’s April 6 campaign finance report showed the airport-bond supporters took in $40,500 and spent $14,077 prior to March 31.
The final list of contributors included:
The PAC has since dissolved, but it shares a name with a nonprofit corporation called McKinney Above the Rest, Inc. that also formed in March 2023.
McKinney Above the Rest, Inc. has five directors:
- George Fuller—McKinney mayor and real estate developer
- Brian Loughmiller—Chairman of McKinney Economic Development Corporation, former McKinney mayor and city council member
- David Brooks—Chairman and CEO of Independent Bank Group/Independent Financial, former McKinney City Council member and McKinney ISD school board president
- David Craig—Chairman and CEO of Craig International, developer of Craig Ranch in McKinney
- Lisa Hermes—McKinney Chamber of Commerce president and CEO
While the airport expansion bond failed, Fuller and others on the city council approved a plan to request sales tax revenue from McKinney’s economic and community development funds to spend on airport-related projects.
In January, Fuller floated the idea of extending term limits for city officials, which would allow him to run for a third term as mayor and continue pursuing his plans for the airport.
At a February meeting, council members tabled a vote on adding a term-limits charter amendment to the May ballot but said they would consider putting the amendment to city voters in the November election.
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