Austin News

Austin City Councilman Gregorio "Greg" Casar has received nearly $19,000 from members and spouses of a local real estate development company and a lobbying firm, according to his latest campaign finance report.

The contributions to Casar came from members and spouses of Endeavor Real Estate Group and the lobbying firm Armbrust & Brown, both based in Austin, according to his 84-page campaign finance report issued earlier this month.

Many of the same contributors also turned up in the campaign finance report of another Austin councilman, Jimmy Flannigan, who represents the Sixth District.

Both council members, like other candidates for public office, are required under Texas law to make public campaign finance reports.

Casar, a Texas native and son of Mexican immigrants, is in his second two-year term representing Austin's Fourth District.

Officially, city council members are nonpartisan and Casar is known to be a Democrat, as are all other members of the council and Mayor Steve Adler.

Earlier this week, Austin City Council unanimously passed Casar's resolution demanding immediate passage of the HEROES Act in the U.S. Senate.

In a post to his Facebook page announcing passage of the resolution, Casar said that "public employees on the front lines protecting people from COVID-19" need that assistance from the federal government.

"Furthermore, the workers who have lost their jobs - not just big corporations - need attention and support from the federal government," Casar said in the Facebook post. "I'm a proud AFSCME union member, and I'm thankful to the entire AFL-CIO for fighting to keep working people afloat during this [COVID-19] pandemic."

In his campaign finance report, Casar acknowledges 24 individual contributions from employees and members, and their spouses, of Endeavor Real Estate Group. Endeavor has its hands in quite a bit of  Austin-area development, including several joint-city projects such as Plaza Saltillo and The Domain. 

Casar's campaign finance report also mentions 29 individual contributions from employees or members, and their spouses, of Armbrust & Brown, a lobbying firm that represents clients in real estate, business and other ventures.

Endeavor and Armbrust & Brown employees and their spouses who show up most often in Casar's campaign finance report account for $18,950 in contributions.

Those same contributors have also turned up Flannigan's 73-page campaign finance report, giving Flannigan about $17,700 in contributions.