Wilson rakes in campaign funds from afar
Conservative political action committee takes big interest in Jones' challenger
BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Tens of thousands of dollars are flooding into a Lubbock campaign for the state House from nearly everywhere in the state but here.
Republican challenger Van Wilson more than doubled the fundraising efforts of incumbent Rep. Delwin Jones over the past month, with almost all of his money coming from a single source outside the district.
Wilson said his campaign had not yet focused on local fundraising during the period reflected in a campaign finance report filed Monday, and smaller donations from a wider variety of local residents would show up in his next filing.
But Jones was critical of a campaign that he said wasn't funded by voters in the district.
"I feel like this office belongs to the people of District 83, and that's the reason I count on them to underwrite the campaign," Jones said. "I feel like that if somebody out of the district finances it, then they're going to own the candidate."
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/020706/loc_020706026.shtmlJones changed parties years ago when the winds of change blew over west Texas. Little did he know that supporting public schools was going to make him a target of his conservative buddies.