[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Austin’s Oldest Profession: Texas’ Top Lobby Clients & Those Who Service Them 2002 Edition III. Lobbyists A. Million-Dollar Lobbyists

 

Thirty-eight Texas lobbyists reported maximum lobby incomes of $1 million or more in 2001. With an average of 28 clients apiece, the members of this million-dollar club collectively billed their clients up to $52.3 million in 2001. These 38 lobbyists accounted for an astounding one out of every four lobby dollars billed in the state. Shattering the glass ceiling, Baker Botts’ Pamela Giblin (see accompanying table) shot to the top of the list as the only 2001 lobbyist to report a maximum lobby income in excess of $2 million. A former Texas Air Control Board general counsel, Giblin is Texas’ top polluter lobbyist, with energy, chemical and waste interests accounting for two-thirds of her clients. As discussed in the next section, the value of the largest Texas lobby contracts—which are worth more than $200,000—are not known. Giblin reported the only such mega-contract with a government entity: the Brownsville Public Utility Board (BPUB). To determine if this mega-contract was worth $200,001 or $5 million, Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) filed a Public Information Act request with the BPUB. After two months of BPUB stonewalling, TPJ indirectly obtained some information by requesting copies of the documents that BPUB sent to the Office of Attorney General (OAG) in its efforts to shirk disclosure of its lobby spending. A BPUB letter to the OAG says, “During calendar year 2001, BPUB continued to use and pay for the services of the law firms of Baker & Botts and of Murray Scheer Montgomery Tapia & O’Donnell to obtain favorable federal and state action on regulatory approvals and financial assistance for a proposed water project and to pay for the services of Cliff Johnson and Reggie Bashur as persons identified by Baker & Botts as necessary consultants to obtain favorable action on the required state and federal permits.” Citing attorney-client privilege, BPUB declined to disclose other details of its exorbitant lobbying activity.

Pam Giblin's Top 2001 Clients Max. Value of Contract Baker Botts >$200,000 Brownsville Public Utilities Board >$200,000 Pilgrim's Pride Corp. $200,000 Secured Enviro. Management $200,000 Waste Management of TX $100,000 Albemarle Corp. $25,000 AMD $25,000 Arco Chemical Co. $25,000 BASF Corp. $25,000 Bayer Corp. $25,000 BP Amoco $25,000 Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. $25,000 Capitol Aggregates, Ltd. $25,000 Celanese Chemicals $25,000 Champion International Corp. $25,000 Chevron U.S.A. Inc. $25,000 Coastal Corp. $25,000 Donohue Industries $25,000 Dow Chemical U.S.A. $25,000 DX Holding Co. $25,000 Du Pont $25,000 Eastman Chemical Co. $25,000 Entergy $25,000 Enterprise Products Partners $25,000 Equistar Chemicals $25,000 ExxonMobil Corp. $25,000 GB Biosciences Corp. $25,000 Global Octanes Corp. $25,000 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. $25,000 Huntsman Chemical Corp. $25,000 Lyondell Citgo Refining Co. $25,000 Motorola Corp. $25,000 Occidental Chemical Corp. $25,000 Pasadena Paper Co. $25,000 Phillips Petroleum Co. $25,000 Reliant Energy $25,000 Rohm and Haas TX $25,000 Shell Oil Co. $25,000 Solutia, Inc. $25,000 Sterling Chemicals $25,000 Temple Inland $25,000 Texaco $25,000 TX Instruments $25,000 TX Petrochemicals Corp. $25,000 Union Carbide Corp. $25,000 Union Pacific Railroad Co. $25,000 Valero Energy Corp. $25,000 Westvaco TX $25,000