In 1997, Mr. McDonald came to Austin to found and direct Texans for Public Justice, a non-partisan, non-profit group focusing on corporate and governmental responsibility, particularly the role of money in campaign finance and lobbying. Texans for Public Justice's research has documented polluters' campaign contributions and lobbying efforts to keep grandfathered exemptions from regulation, to limit judicial access for class-action toxic tort cases, to press for low-level nuclear waste disposal facilities, to advocate construction of pulverized coal plants, to fund development subsidies, to grant eminent domain powers for private utilities, and other measures that loosened regulation or expanded incentives for environmentally risky ventures.

March 6, 2008
Austin, Texas
Reels 2443, 2444, and 2445