Footnotes
1. “Hired Guns,” Center for Public Integrity, December 21, 2007.
2. The previous edition of “Austin’s Oldest Profession” discusses how the Center ranked 2005 lobby data.
3. Governor Rick Perry called a special session to address school financing on April 17, 2006. That session ended on May 15, 2006.
4. Florida treats executive- and legislative-branch lobbying separately. Florida uses exact compensation amounts for legislative lobby contracts but reports executive-branch lobby compensation in ranges.
5. “Dallas City Council Approves Millions in Subsidies for AT&T Headquarters Relocation,” Dallas Morning News, August 13, 2008.
6. For more on this mobilization see “TXU's Takeover Lobby Cost About $17 Million,” TPJ’s Lobby Watch, August 14, 2007.
7. “Explosions fuel gas pipeline fittings debate,” WFAA-TV, October 22, 2007.
8. “State panel orders replacement of couplings,” Dallas Morning News, November 7, 2007. The lone dissenter, Commissioner Victor Carrillo, questioned if the agency had the authority to order the replacement without more evidence that the couplings posed an immediate threat.
9. “Atmos, Contractor Facing Fines,” Dallas Morning News, August 6, 2008.
10. See “T is for ‘Taking’: Did Texas Sell T. Boone Pickens Powers of Eminent Domain?” Texans For Public Justice, October 4, 2007,
11. After the legislative session ended in May 2007 Mesa Water had reported spending up to $1,050,001 on Texas lobbyists. These lobby expenditures jumped to $1.4 million by the end of the calendar year.
12. A decision issued by the U.S. Department of Justice in August 2008 disqualifies the three members of the water district’s five-person board who are not local residents. The Justice Department acted out of concern that the district’s structure dilutes minority voting rights. “Pickens’ Energy Plans Clouded by Federal Decision,” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, August 23, 2008.
13. 2007 annual report of WCS parent company Valhi, Inc., filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission March 13, 2008.
14. Bob & Doylene Perry of Houston gave Governor Perry $381,799 that cycle.
15. “Dallas Billionaire Harold Simmons Finances Anti-Obama Ad,” Dallas Morning News, August 23, 3008.
16. 2007 annual report of WCS parent company Valhi, Inc., filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission March 13, 2008.
17. Rep. Dennis Bonnen’s HB 2994.
18. As of August 2008, four companies had applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two Texas reactors apiece. NRG Energy applied to build two additional reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City. Luminant Power applied to add two more reactors to its Comanche Peak site southwest of Fort Worth. Exelon applied to build two reactors in Victoria County and Amarillo Power applied to build two reactors in the Amarillo area. Amarillo Power, a start-up by local developer George Chapman, has sought a partnership with UniStar Nuclear, a joint venture of Constellation Energy and French manufacturer Areva, Inc.
19. Including 3,776 canisters of concentrated waste from a shuttered federal weapons site in Fernald, Ohio.
20. “Radioactive Waste Site Nearing OK,” Dallas Morning News, August 13, 2008.
21. “Good to Glow,” Texas Observer, April 4, 2008.
22. H.B. 1602. See “Patriots For Hire,” Texas Observer, June 1, 2007.
23. The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute will spend $300 million a year, with a modest $30 million going to tobacco prevention.
25. Problems include voting irregularities, employee charges of sexual harassment, water contamination, prices and other customer complaints.
26. “The BexarMet Drama Plays in Austin,” San Antonio Express-News, March 15, 2007. SAWS paid five lobbyists up to $425,000 in 2007.
27. “BexarMet Board Stays—Under Microscope,” San Antonio Express-News, May 31, 2007.
28. The law names “the House author of this Act, or, in the event this Representative cannot serve, a Representative appointed by the Speaker of the Texas House.” Speaker Craddick appointed Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio) to what would have been Puente’s seat.
29. “Craddick Ally Puente Won’t Run,” Austin American-Statesman, October 18, 2007.
30. Rodriguez married the daughter of lobbyist Dan Shelley, a former lawmaker who served as legislative director to Governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry.
31. “Puente’s Links To Lobbyist Questioned,” San Antonio Express-News, June 17, 2007.
32. This bill to raise a cap on harvesting Edwards Aquifer water was folded into the omnibus water bill SB 3. SAWS and BexarMet are the largest owners of Edwards Aquifer pumping permits.
33. In 2007 Puente made unrelenting—yet fruitless—efforts to pass legislation to extend water lines to an Onion Associates development. See “Puente’s Links To Lobbyist Questioned,” San Antonio Express-News, June 17, 2007.
34. Prosecutors alleged that Connolly illegally reimbursed employees for political contributions made in their names. Similar allegations were made about contributions made by the Water Exploration Co., a Rodriguez client that sells water to BexarMet. “BexarMet PR Man Under Scrutiny Promises Answers,” San Antonio Express-News, August 31, 2007. “In Wake of BexarMet Funding Revelations, DA Is Investigating,” San Antonio Express-News, April 23, 2007.
35. As the session heated up in February 2007, BexarMet doubled Connolly’s retainer to $10,000 a month plus expenses. Connolly testified against Puente’s HB 1565 before Puente’s committee on March 14, 2007. He also billed BexarMet a total of $5,451 for limousine vans that he contracted to send witnesses to that hearing and the Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing on the same BexarMet bill (see “BexarMet’s Star Chamber Takes Reluctant Look at Pricey PR Gun,” San Antonio Express-News, June 26, 2007). Texas lobbyists generally must register if they get paid more than $1,000 a quarter and spend more than 5 percent of their compensated time on lobby activities.
36. “BexarMet Boss Hit With Five Charges,” San Antonio Express-News, August 15, 2008.
37. Such increases appeared, for example, in HB 1, HB 15, HB 109 and SB 10.
38. Frew v. Hawkins initially was settled through a 1995 consent decree overseen by a federal judge. Two years later the plaintiffs returned to court in an effort to enforce the settlement agreement. A federal appeals court ruled that the state’s immunity made the consent agreement unenforceable. Addressing the case in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that federal courts have authority to enforce consent decrees on state officials.
42. “Medical Doctors Beat Podiatrists in Ankle Turf War,” Austin American-Statesman, March 19, 2008.
43. All of these contributions occurred after the appeal in Texas Orthopaedic Association v. Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners was filed in the Third Court of Appeals in September 2005. TMA PAC contributed $5,250 to Judge Alan Waldrop and $3,500 to Judge David Puryear. The Texas Podiatric Medical Association PAC gave $1,500 to each of these judges. Such contributions in the 2006 cycle could have made a difference in more ways than one. Puryear won that election with 52 percent of the vote; Waldrop squeezed by with 51 percent.
44. “Deal on State Budget Reached,” Dallas Morning News, May 25, 2007. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 boosted the $5.85 minimum wage to $6.55 in July 2008 and $7.25 in July 2009.
49. “Gaming Texas Gambling Law,” Texas Observer, April 6, 2007.
50. “Cops Raid Gaming Company, Seize $850,000,” San Antonio Express-News, May 22, 2008.
51. The Geo Group spent up to $60,000 on three Texas lobbyists in 2005.
52. “Lax Oversight Plagues Private Prisons in Texas,” Watch Your Assets, Texans for Public Justice, February 6, 2008. The “Lax Oversight” study reports that Geo Group spent up to $625,000 on six Texas lobbyists in 2007. That is what Geo lobbyists had reported by the end of the 2007 session. The much larger numbers in this lobby study are what Geo lobbyists reported at year’s end—after the juvenile-detention scandal erupted in October. What a difference a crisis can make.
54. The Texas office of the National Federation of Independent Business, which is leading the revolt against the tax changes, was drowned out in the lobby. It spent up to $200,000 on three lobbyists in 2007.
55. See Silverleaf’s S-8 filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission filed on September 30, 1998.
56. Given that it is impossible to guess the “maximum value” of a contract reportedly worth “$200,000 or more,” TPJ records the value of such contracts as “$200,001.” An alert reader looking at the last digit of Smith’s total maximum contract value of $3,875,003 might correctly surmise that he reported three of these mega-contracts.
57. Ziegler’s wife, Sondra, is a former aide to then-Senator Phil Gramm.
58. “Senators Keep Funds In Family,” Austin American-Statesman, August 4, 2008.
59. “New Electronic Health Record ‘Addicting,’” Future Healthcare, Healthcare Whitepapers.
60. “Medical Software Firm Faces Lawsuit Before Product Launch,” Austin Business Journal, February 9, 2007.
61. The Granbury City Council agreed in November 2006 to pay Smith’s firm $5,000 a month through October 2008.
62. HB 2489 by Reps. Leo Berman and Dwayne Bohac; the Senate sponsor was Robert Duncan.
63. This is a noticeable drop from the 86 mega-contracts that lobbyists reported in 2005.
©Copyright Texans for Public Justice, September 2008
