• By the end of the 1997, 1,662 registered lobbyists reported up to $210 million in income from 2,304 clients. (This army of lobbyists was more than twice the size of the 857 lobbyists who registered 10 years earlier).
  
  
• 110 of these lobbyists are “revolvers,” who once were powerful public officials. These revolvers include 91 ex-legislators (including three former House Speakers and three legislators who also served as state agency heads), 13 ex-agency heads (who did not serve in the Legislature) and six former legislative officers. These revolvers reported 1,159 contracts in 1997 that were worth up to $44 million. 
  
  
• These revolvers command a hefty influence-peddling premium. Although they accounted for 7 percent of all lobbyists, they walked away with 17 percent of all lobby contracts and 21 percent of all lobby income. While the average lobbyist reported a maximum lobby income of $126,062, the average revolver pocketed three times that amount, or $397,047.
  
  
• While Democrats outnumbered Republican ex-legislator lobbyists 80:11, Republicans tended to make more cash. The average haul of an ex-Democratic legislator was $239,689 compared to $398,636 for the average GOP ex-legislator.
  
  
• 62 percent of ex-legislator lobbyists supplement their lucrative lobby incomes with state pension checks. The average one of these lucky lobbyists received $25,430 from taxpayers in 1997 pension income—more than Texas’ per capita income.
  
  
•  Leading revolver A. W. “Woody” Pogue is an ex-insurance commissioner who received up to $2.8 million from 137 clients (most of which are insurance companies). 
  
  
• Former Sergeant-At-Arms Rusty Kelley led ex-legislative officers, with 48 clients paying him up to $2.7 million. 
  
  
• Neal “Buddy” Jones led ex-legislators, reporting up to $1.8 million from 50 clients. Jones also spawned a new revolver by hiring a top state official who had influence over the fate of Jones’ top 1997 client, Garwood Irrigation. 
  
  
• The finance, insurance and real estate sector employed the most revolving-door hired guns, paying them up to $9.9 million (23 percent of the revolver total) to execute 368 contracts. Southwestern Bell sponsored the biggest single jobs program for revolvers, paying 10 of them up to $650,000.

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