Oxford proudly raised $130,000 for the Bush campaign but was defensive when confronted about it. Apparently, he also sees no problem with buying appointments.

Oxford was part of Bush's Florida recount team. He's a hotshot Republican moneyslinger. In 2000, he gave money to seven candidates. Seven of them were Republicans. He was the Houston-area chair of Bush’s ’98 reelection campaign after Bush appointed him as a University of Texas Regent in '97. In this role, Oxford joined the board of the University of Texas Investment Management Co. (UTIMCO) in ‘99 to fill vacancies created by the departure of two of Bush’s all-time biggest donors: Tom Hicks and Tom Loeffler.

He is also the managing partner for Bracewell & Patterson, Enron's favored law firm. Oxford's firm also employs Republican National Committee Chairman Marc Racicot and Texas Republican attorney general candidate Greg Abbott who have faced criticism that their relationships with a law firm working for Enron and their official positions could pose conflicts. Abbott accepted $12,600 in campaign contributions from Enron. (see Bracewell & Patterson's 2000 campaign contributions)

Bracewell & Patterson has been kind enough to accept down-'n'-out Enron lawyers back at their firm, where many of them have worked before. From a Feb. 4, 2002 Texas Lawyer article: "Patrick Oxford, the firm's managing partner, says the firm has hired back two of its alumni from Enron...'There are others of ours there [at Enron] that we might end up talking to. It's premature. They still have full jobs over there,' says Oxford."

Oxford maintains 5,000-10,000 shares of stock in Kinder-Morgan, Inc., a pipeline company which is one of Bracewell & Patterson's major clients. UTIMCO has about 1,000,000 shares in Kinder-Morgan.

Boards and Executive Positions