The Money Behind the Southwest Connection
Updated: 1 hour ago
How engineering firms fund Hays County officials who advance the road — and how those same firms get paid from public budgets. From campaign filings and county payment records.
$330K Campaign gifts | $48M County payments to firms | 315 Gift records counted |
Who received the gifts
These are campaign gifts from engineering firms, builders, and related interests — not every dollar each official raised. Walt Smith (road co-sponsor) still takes the largest share. His Precinct 4 successor Rep. candidate, Rob McClelland, is now second. Rep. Candidate for Judge Geoffrey Tahuahua has moved up the list. Note: Rob McClelland is a head of sales for a civil construction company, BPI. Geoffrey Tahuahua states that prior to running, he was paid by home builders and construction groups to lobby for their interests for 7 years at the Texas Legislature. These affiliations speak only to their personal financial interests, outside of County issues. TOTALS, current candidates bolded
Official | Office | Gifts | Share | Note |
Walt Smith | Precinct 4 | $137,475 | 42% | Road co-sponsor; also on the local water board |
Rob McClelland | Precinct 4 (candidate) | $38,500 | 12% | Smith's successor; includes $5k from his employer's owner plus Structurepoint, Quiddity, BGE |
Mark Jones | Precinct 2 (former) | $32,450 | 10% | Engineering PACs in older filings |
Michelle G. Cohen | County Judge (candidate) | $29,525 | 9% | Quiddity, HNTB, and Structurepoint gifts on the 2026 judge race |
Keep Hays County Moving PAC | Road bond SPAC | $28,000 | 8% | SAM, Structurepoint, Pape-Dawson, Quiddity, Kimley-Horn, RTG on the Jan 2026 SPAC |
Lon Shell | Precinct 3 (former) | $27,150 | 8% | Engineering / growth gifts in older filings |
Debbie Ingalsbe | Precinct 1 | $18,825 | 6% | Older engineering gifts + Quiddity $5k (2025) |
Geoffrey Tahuahua | County Judge (candidate) | $12,000 | 4% | Quiddity, RECA, Site Solutions (2025–26); HBA HomePAC on Jul 15 |
Morgan Hammer | Precinct 3 | $6,000 | 2% | Road co-sponsor; Quiddity $5k (2025) |
Based on local campaign reports ($329,925). Not a full dump of every contribution.
Firms that give — and get paid
Same firms show up on both sides: they donate to commissioners, and they get paid for road design, program management, or related work. “Public pay” is what Hays County paid each firm from 2017 through 2025 (official vendor reports), unless noted. Rows are ordered by how closely each firm ties to this Southwest Connection corridor — not by who got paid the most. These numbers show that relatively low-dollar campaign donations can be linked to the spending of significant taxpayer dollars.
Firm | Gifts to officials | Public pay | What they do | |
American Structurepoint (employs former Commissioner Will Conley) | $19,500 | $6.29M | Current designer of the Southwest Connection (~$3M design contract); gifts include Canfield to Cohen, Borcherding/Conley to McClelland, and Conner $5k to Keep Hays | |
K Friese + Associates | $2,975 | $4.18M | Led the early road study ($750k); founder Karen Friese donated to Smith | |
HNTB | $19,650 | $15.38M | Manages the county's road-bond / transportation program, directly profiting from all new roads | |
Quiddity (was Jones & Carter) | $34,900 | $1.14M | County road design work; $5k each to Smith, Hammer, Ingalsbe, and Cohen in 2025, plus 2026 PAC/staff gifts to McClelland, Tahuahua, and Cohen | |
LJA (with CD&P outreach) | $6,000 | $5.86M | Ran public outreach on the early study; staff donated to Smith | |
Pape-Dawson | $12,100 | $2.91M | Designs Sawyer Ranch Road near Dripping Springs (Precinct 4) | |
Murfee → Consor | $9,000 | Contracts for WTPUA | Engineer for the West Travis Public Utility Agency— Smith sits on that board | |
BGE | $20,100 | $8.18M | Employees donate (incl. $2,400 cluster to McClelland); county pays the firm — Old Kyle / Hillside Terrace work noted in filings research | |
Cobb Fendley | $16,000 | $4.48M | Repeat donor; county pays the firm — no specific road contract named yet |
*Murfee / Consor is paid mainly by the West Travis County water utility (large recurring engineering checks), not by the county road vendor report — while Smith serves on that water board. Quiddity totals are the Quiddity Engineering name; the older Jones & Carter name is a separate $1,000 in the PDF set. BGE and Cobb Fendley: gifts and county payments are clear; a named road contract for this corridor is not yet pulled.
New Leaderboard: What the October 5, 2026 reports add
These are the industry gifts on the 30-day reports filed October 5, 2026, for the November 3 general election, plus one Metric gift from McClelland's July 15 report. Smith, Hammer, and Ingalsbe filed nothing new. Two candidates for County Judge, Cohen and Tahuahua, received donations from affiliated firms. The most money went to candidate for Precinct 4 Rob McClelland. Independent Judge candidate Liz Gajados opposes the road and has accepted no dollars that relate to the project. Note: Precint 4 Candidate Angie Unger opposes the road and has also run a 'grassroots' campaign with no developer dollars accepted, therefore is not on this report. October 5 report shows $11,345 raised from almost all individuals, with one small personal donation from an engineer unaffiliated with county contracts, and one ActBluePAC with no development links.
Recipient | Contributor | Amount | Date on the form |
Rob McClelland | Quiddity PAC | $5,000 | August 11, 2026 |
Rob McClelland | Shawn Bertram, Metric Engineering | $1,500 | March 1, 2026 (July 15 report) |
Rob McClelland | Shawn Bertram, Metric Engineering | $1,000 | September 11, 2026 |
Rob McClelland | IEA PAC | $1,000 | July 22, 2026 |
Rob McClelland | Kathleen Kaster, Benesch | $1,000 | March 1, 2026 (July 15 report) |
Rob McClelland | Shani Armbruster, MileStone | $2,500 | April 24, 2026 (July 15 report) |
Rob McClelland | RKC Partnership | $2,000 | September 9, 2026 |
Michelle Cohen | Quiddity PAC | $750 | July 1, 2026 |
Michelle Cohen | Quiddity PAC | $750 | August 27, 2026 |
Michelle Cohen | HNTB Holdings Ltd PAC | $2,250 | July 17, 2026 |
Michelle Cohen | Cash Canfield, American Structurepoint | $2,500 | August 19, 2026 |
Geoffrey Tahuahua | Quiddity PAC | $4,000 | July 20, 2026 |
Geoffrey Tahuahua | Susan Harris, Site Solutions | $2,500 | August 13, 2026 |
Geoffrey Tahuahua | RECA Good Government PAC | $1,000 | September 16, 2026 |
Geoffrey Tahuahua | Josue Reyes, D. Wilson Construction | $500 | September 18, 2026 |
McClelland's and Cohen's Schedule A pages are handwritten. Tahuahua's are typed. McClelland's RTG $750 (2/6/2026), Bauerle $5,000, Structurepoint, BGE, and Pape-Dawson primary gifts are now coded from the Jan/Feb Vista PDFs. Keep Hays County Moving's Jan 2026 SPAC adds another $28,000 from the same industry stack (SAM $10,000 largest).
Where these numbers come from
Gifts are from Hays County campaign finance reports (mainly Walt Smith, 2018–2025), plus selected filings for Hammer, Ingalsbe, Cohen, Rob McClelland, Geoffrey Tahuahua, and Keep Hays County Moving PAC — coded as engineering, homebuilding, land, or related infrastructure money. The October 2026 refresh added McClelland's full 2026 C/OH set, Cohen/Tahuahua/Unger October 5 reports, Tahuahua Jan/Jul C/OHs, and both Keep Hays SPACs. Public pay is from Hays County vendor payment reports (2017–2025) and was not re-pulled. This is not every gift or every vendor invoice in the county.
Sources
Hays County Roads — Southwest Connection (design advancing; construction not funded)
