Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton and Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell are listed by their official university titles as hosts on an invitation for a Sept. 29 Ken Paxton U.S. Senate fundraiser, according to TTU Public Media and The Texas Newsroom. Apparently, slapping your taxpayer-funded day job onto a partisan political flyer is just standard operating procedure in West Texas now.
The Lubbock County Democratic Party highlighted the invitation this week and asked the university system to clarify whether Creighton and Campbell are acting strictly in their personal capacities and if anyone actually authorized using their Tech titles. “We’re not alleging a specific legal violation — that’s for the Texas Ethics Commission or TTU’s own compliance process to determine,” the party said in a statement. “But when the two people overseeing a public university system are hosting a fundraiser for a partisan statewide candidate, students, faculty, and taxpayers deserve to know.”
Texas Tech’s own ethics policy prohibits spending university funds to influence elections, warns against exploiting “professional relationships or TTUS position for personal gain,” and points to state laws barring public servants from misusing government resources. Chapter 572 of the Texas Government Code also bars appointed regents from activities in “substantial conflict” with their public duties. Naturally, when The Texas Newsroom asked the Texas Tech University System for comment on Thursday, officials responded with the time-honored bureaucratic tradition of total silence.
This isn’t Campbell’s first brush with remarkably well-timed political generosity. Federal campaign finance records show the oil and gas executive donated $274,300 to Paxton Victory on June 10. The following day, Paxton’s office sent a letter on behalf of Texas Tech warning the Big 12 Conference that sanctioning the university over its handling of then-quarterback Brendan Sorsby could expose the conference to more than $200 million in damages.
Campbell previously told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram there was nothing improper about the donation and he just wanted to support Paxton’s Senate campaign against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. It is reassuring to know that in Texas, a quarter-million-dollar check followed the very next day by a $200 million legal threat from Paxton’s office is purely a coincidence of shared civic enthusiasm.
When state ethics rules are apparently written in disappearing ink, why wouldn’t you put the university letterhead on the party invite?
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