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- Texas’ 2003 state lobby ranked No. 2 in the nation after California, a recent report found. Yet that study was based on the minimal value of lobby expenditures in Texas (where lobbyists report income in ranges (such as $50,000 - $99,999). Texas’ maximum lobby contracts far exceeded California’s lobby.
- In the past ten years special interests have spent between $874 million and $2 billion on 56,858 Texas lobby contracts.
- Governor Rick Perry made 2003 a banner lobby year by calling the legislature back for three special redistricting sessions. In 2003, 2,283 clients paid 1,578 Texas lobbyists between $132 million and $276 million to execute 6,593 lobby contracts. This lobby spending was up 60 percent over 1995.
- As usual, SBC (Southwestern Bell) dominated, paying 110 lobbyists up to $7.6 million.
- SBC and 16 other mega-clients had maximum lobby expenditures exceeding $1 million each. These huge clients accounted for 11 percent of Texas’ total lobby spending.
- Led by TXU, Energy and Natural Resources was the No. 1 lobby sector. The up to $43 million that this industry spent on 908 contracts accounted for 16 percent of Texas’ total lobby spending.
- The next largest sectors were: Ideological and Single-Issue clients (13 percent of the total); Health clients (12 percent); and Miscellaneous Business clients (11 percent).
- Public Strategies Managing Director Rusty Kelley led the lobby, reporting 58 contracts worth up to $5.2 million. A revolving-door lobbyist, Kelley previously was a House Sergeant at Arms and an aide to then-Speaker Billy Clayton.
- 59 Texas lobbyists reported maximum lobby incomes of $1 million or more in 2003—up from 38 million-dollar lobbyists in 2001. After Kelley, the top-billing lobbyists were ex-lawmakers Stan Schlueter and David Sibley.
- The 26 lobbyists who reported maximum incomes exceeding $1.5 million collectively billed their clients up to $58 million. These 26 lobbyists collected one out of every five Texas lobby dollars.
- Texas lobbyists reported 35 mega-contracts worth unspecified amounts of “more than $200,000.” This was more than twice the number of mega-contracts reported in 2001. CITGO Petroleum and the City of Houston each bankrolled two mega-contracts. While three lobbyists claimed two mega-contracts each: Elton Bomer, Pam Giblin, and Karen Johnson.
