Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview

AUSTIN — They may have lost ground in the last election, but state House Republicans are playing up their two-seat majority for all it’s worth: They’re asking for "unlimited" corporate and personal contributions to raise money and finance strategy sessions this week at the fancy Lost Pines Resort & Spa, where donations and access to top leaders go hand in hand.

The GOP House Caucus meets before every legislative session, and the next one is to begin in January. But critics, including fellow Republicans, said the economic downturn, the party’s recent electoral losses and the way the money is being raised — by doling out access to GOP leaders based on the amount given — is particularly ill-timed and tone-deaf.

"It’s very startling to me that we are going to a resort to plan our strategy and charge someone for access to members of the Legislature," said state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, who is challenging House Speaker Tom Craddick for the leadership post. "My door is always open. They don’t have to pay for access."

This year, for $5,000 contributors will receive two tickets to "VIP dinner & Strategy Meetings," a single golf outing and other benefits. Those giving $10,000 get six VIP dinner tickets plus two golf outings with a "Preferred House Leader." Chip in $25,000 or more and you get 15 VIP dinner tickets, four golf outings with a "Preferred House Member" and prominent company advertising at the event, which begins today at the resort in Bastrop, southeast of Austin.

The two-day confab includes dinner Wednesday night at the home of registered lobbyist Bill Pewitt, whose clients include Accenture. Last year the company lost a lucrative state contract designed to privatize the state’s social-services eligibility system.

Gov. Rick Perry, his pollster Mike Baselice, Craddick and national Republican activist Michael Steele, a candidate for Republican National Committee chairman, are among the invited speakers. The news media are not allowed to attend.

Chad Wilbanks, a caucus strategist, said all donations will be disclosed to the Texas Ethics Commission and will be used to pay for research and assistance for GOP members during the session. The Legislature meets for five hectic months starting Jan. 13. He said there’s nothing unusual or new about providing golfing trips or dinner for donors.

"Anybody that contributes to the caucus, whether it be at the top level or the $500 level, everybody is going to get an opportunity to interact with the elected officials that show up," Wilbanks said. "It’s just kind of a brainstorming session and interacting and so forth."

Wilbanks said the GOP House caucus isn’t doing anything its Democratic counterparts haven’t done.