A fundraising group with ties to GOP candidates is dissolving after it caused a stir Wednesday among Texas politicians who deemed its name “offensive.”
Allen Blackmore, a Houston-based political consultant who also serves as a senior strategist for state Sen. Dan Patrick’s (R) campaign for lieutenant governor, confirmed to the Texas Tribune that the “Boats ‘N Hoes” PAC, created by his firm’s bookkeeper, will be dissolved on Thursday.
The bookkeeper, Shaun Nowacki, filed with the Texas Ethics Commission to create the PAC on April 1, according to the Tribune. The PAC, whose name is a reference to a song from the 2008 film “Step Brothers,” has not filed any fundraising reports since.
Texas Democrats quickly denounced the PAC’s “offensive” name and sought to link the group to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R). Blackmore and Associates Consulting Firm lists Abbott, the GOP nominee for governor, as a client from 1991-2004.
“Texas Republicans say they want to reach out to women, to be more inclusive, but actions like this reinforce a pattern of disrespect,” Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Lisa Paul said in a statement. “There’s no defending the use of a derogatory and offensive term like ‘hoes’. How can women possibly take the GOP rebranding effort seriously? Their consistent contempt towards women is simply unforgivable.”
A spokeswoman for state Sen. Wendy Davis’s (D) gubernatorial campaign emphasized the consulting group’s ties to Abbott in a statement that called the language used by the PAC “offensive to every Texas mother and daughter.”
Abbott’s campaign distanced him from the committee.
“The terminology used in the name of this PAC is reprehensible and Greg Abbott denounces any person or entity that uses such offensive language,” Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch told the San Antonio Express-News.
Hirsch added that the consulting firm hadn’t worked with Abbott in years and said the gubernatorial candidate would not take money from the PAC.
Hoes vote… doncha know!