Daily Texan: Bob Perry's bought justice

Bob Perry hemorrhages money for Texas politics. During last year's election cycle alone, the Texas home-builder dropped more than $6.7 million to candidates and political action committees in the state. He gave Gov. Rick Perry (no relation) $380,000 during the same period. So it's not surprising to see that this sugar daddy wants a few favors in return. Right now, he's asking the Texas Supreme Court to help save his company, Perry Homes, more than $1 million.

Bob Perry's bought justice

Daily Texan Editorial
March 23, 2007

Bob Perry hemorrhages money for Texas politics. During last year's election cycle alone, the Texas home-builder dropped more than $6.7 million to candidates and political action committees in the state. He gave Gov. Rick Perry (no relation) $380,000 during the same period.

So it's not surprising to see that this sugar daddy wants a few favors in return. Right now, he's asking the Texas Supreme Court to help save his company, Perry Homes, more than $1 million.

When Bob and Jane Culls' Perry home began to show defects - an unstable foundation, cracks in the wall - the North Texas couple began writing letters to Perry, demanding repairs. After more than three years without a satisfactory response, the Culls sued Perry Homes in 2000, demanding action. Concerned with the possibility of a drawn-out legal battle, the couple moved to arbitration, which Perry initially fought. But a district judge, appeals court and even the Texas Supreme Court sided with the Culls and said the case should go to arbitration.

In 2002, an arbitrator ordered Perry Homes to pay the couple $800,000. Perry's lawyers said the judgement was biased but lost the appeal to a district judge and an appeals court. Now Perry is hoping the Texas Supreme Court, which heard arguments on the case Tuesday, will bail his company out of the settlement - now worth more than $1 million after interest. The Culls have yet to see a dime.

What makes the case so obscene is that Perry has individually contributed more than $94,750 to the Supreme Court's sitting justices, according to Texans for Public Justice. Texas judges are elected and are allowed to raise campaign contributions.

Two major political action committees Perry supports have also given more than $248,000 to the sitting justices. One PAC, Hillco, has given the justices $95,000. Another, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, has given the justices more than $153,000. For the 2006 election cycle, Perry provided 61 percent of Hillco's money raised and about 15 percent of what TLR raised. In essence, Perry has funneled more than $175,000 in campaign contributions to the current justices.

It could get even more interesting. Justice Nathan Hecht, who fought a judicial conduct sanction for his vocal support of Harriet Miers' failed bid for the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, recently raised more than $340,000 in contributions to cover personal legal fees. Hecht is not required to disclose who gave him that money until July, but if history is any indicator - Bob Perry gave Bill Ceverha two $50,000 checks in 2004 and 2005 to cover his legal defense, after Ceverha was forced to defend his activity as treasurer for Tom DeLay's crooked TRMPAC - Perry may well have written Hecht a fat check for the justice's legal defense.

The fact that Texas' high court heard this appeal is perverted enough. If the court indeed rules in Perry's favor, we'll know just how sold-out justice has become in our state.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: Dewhurst’s TXU ties are criticized

A recent report by Texans for Public Justice said TXU spends more on lobby contracts than any company except AT&T. The group reports that TXU has spent up to $24 million on 674 state lobby contracts since 1993. It also said that the company spent up to $3.3 million on 60 lobbyists by late February 2007, which already exceeded what it spent in any previous year. The organization said that after Gov. Rick Perry, Dewhurst received the most campaign cash from the company, $62,250, during the most recent election cycle.

Dewhurst’s TXU ties are criticized

By R.A. DYER
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
March 22, 2007

AUSTIN — Over the last four years as his chief of staff, Bruce Gibson worked at the right hand of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst advising him on all manner of policy.

Now Gibson has gone directly from the lieutenant governor’s office to a job as a legislative consultant for TXU, a company seeking big favors from Dewhurst and other Texas lawmakers.

And while Gibson insists he does not lobby on behalf of the North Texas utility, the opposite is true of another former associate of the lieutenant governor.

Dennis Thomas, a former Public Utility Commission chairman, was once a consultant to Dewhurst’s Falcon Seaboard company and also teamed up with Dewhurst during the 1990s on the sale of cogeneration facilities in Florida and New York.

Thomas is listed as one of TXU’s highest-paid independent lobbyists. He was in Dewhurst’s office last week lobbying on behalf of Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the investment firms proposing to acquire TXU in a $45 billion buyout.

Public advocacy groups are crying foul over the coziness of the relations between the lieutenant governor and top company representatives. They note that TXU has major business before the Texas Legislature, much of it dealing with the controversial buyout.

Insider knowledge

“Mr. Thomas and Mr. Gibson are being paid by TXU, at least in part, for their insider knowledge and personal ties with government officials,” said Andrew Wheat, a policy analyst for Texans for Public Justice, a political watchdog group. “This undermines the public’s confidence in their government. The public starts to wonder whose interests are being served.”

Dewhurst, a Republican, said that he has not been lobbied by Gibson. He said that Gibson recently came by his office on personal business, and that Gibson declined his request to discuss utility matters.

Dewhurst does acknowledge speaking with Thomas about utility legislation. But he insists that he has maintained his independence.

He described both men as good friends.

“I have a well-deserved reputation for doing what I think is best,” he said. “I’m friends with all the senators, and I treat everybody with respect. At the end of the day, I do what I think and the majority of the senators think is in the best interest of all Texas.”

Although a TXU spokeswoman said Gibson’s contract began on Jan. 1, 2007, records show he was a state employee until Jan. 5. The spokeswoman also said the company’s top lobbyist, Curt Seidlits, approached Gibson in December with a suggestion that he come to work for TXU.

Nonetheless, Gibson and the company said there was no overlap between his state employment and his TXU work. Neither he nor TXU would disclose the value of his contract, which they say is for consulting and not for lobbying.

Help with connections

“We brought someone in who knows Austin politics and knows the right people and to help with the connections we need to have — but he has not been asked to talk to legislators about the transaction or any of the legislation that is pending,” said TXU spokeswoman Lisa Singleton.

Records show that Gibson, 53, made $13,390 per month as Dewhurst’s chief of staff. The lieutenant governor also said he used his own money to supplement Gibson’s state salary with bonuses totaling between $200,000 and $300,000 over Gibson’s four years in his office.

Before working for Dewhurst, Gibson was a top official at Reliant Energy of Houston. He said he does not discount the possibility of eventually lobbying for TXU or other companies but does not do so now.

“I help them with strategy — it’s for messaging, what is the right thing to say, and how to position the company for the best,” said Gibson. “The lieutenant governor wasn’t involved at all [in his getting a job at TXU].  . . .  This is just a way to make a little money.”

Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Texas office of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said the public should be concerned whether he works as a consultant or a lobbyist.

In either case, “The former chief of staff to an elected official is going to know how to move the elected official in ways that no outsider will understand,” said Smith. “If TXU didn’t think it would pay off, they wouldn’t have hired Gibson as soon as he walked out the door.”

As for Thomas, the former Public Utility Commission chairman says he worked for several years as a consultant to Dewhurst’s oil industry company, Falcon Seaboard. He also acknowledges partnering with Dewhurst on a deal involving cogeneration plants in New York and Florida.

Falcon Seaboard paid Thomas about $10,000 annually until January 2003 for consulting work, according to Dewhurst. But the lieutenant governor says he has no involvement in the operations of Falcon Seaboard and that his ownership interests are held in an arm’s-length trust.

He says he now has no business relationship with Thomas.

“I consider Dennis Thomas a friend,” said Dewhurst. “Dennis knows that I’m not going to do anything for anybody that I don’t think is in the best interest of Texans. I will tell you that I always found Dennis Thomas to be squeaky clean and brutally honest.”

For his part, Thomas acknowledges meeting with Dewhurst last week to discuss several bills by state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, which have drawn opposition from TXU. “Right now, as a lobbyist, I’m engaged to help clients, and I advise clients about what they need,” he said.

Highly paid lobbyist

According to Texans for Public Justice, Thomas is one of highest-paid independent lobbyists contracted by TXU, with a contract worth between $100,000 and $150,000. Thomas also has a lobby contract with the partnership formed to purchase the utility.

TXU’s other top independent lobby contract is with former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who also reports payment of between $100,000 and $150,000 from TXU, according to the watchdog group.

A recent report by Texans for Public Justice said TXU spends more on lobby contracts than any company except AT&T. The group reports that TXU has spent up to $24 million on 674 state lobby contracts since 1993. It also said that the company spent up to $3.3 million on 60 lobbyists by late February 2007, which already exceeded what it spent in any previous year.

The organization said that after Gov. Rick Perry, Dewhurst received the most campaign cash from the company, $62,250, during the most recent election cycle.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: Justice collects gifts to pay fees

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht personally collected more than $300,000 in private donations from some of the state's top lawyers to pay his legal bills, prompting a state senator to say he is withdrawing his efforts to get the state to pick up the tab. Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he would not have introduced a bill to pay Hecht's legal expenses if he had known that Hecht had raised the money himself.

Justice collects gifts to pay fees

By MAX B. BAKER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
March 20, 2007

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht personally collected more than $300,000 in private donations from some of the state's top lawyers to pay his legal bills, prompting a state senator to say he is withdrawing his efforts to get the state to pick up the tab.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he would not have introduced a bill to pay Hecht's legal expenses if he had known that Hecht had raised the money himself.

"I was not given all the information I would have liked to have had," Wentworth said Monday in a telephone interview from Qatar, where he was part of Texas' contingent celebrating the opening of a new building for a branch of Texas A&M University.

"He is whole in paying his attorney fees, and that is why I'm not proceeding with the bill," he said.

Hecht, who successfully fought an ethics sanction over his efforts to speak out for his former law partner and onetime girlfriend, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, raised the money by sending out a solicitation letter that in some cases included a handwritten note at the bottom.

In a letter dated Feb. 3 that was obtained by the Star-Telegram, Hecht wrote a personal note asking for a $20,000 donation. On another, he asked for $5,000.

Hecht said recently that he has raised enough money to pay his $340,000 legal tab but that he believes the state should cover the cost. He said he will refund the money to the lawyers if the state pays.

"Here is the problem: If judges are sanctioned like this and it's unjust and it's wrong and they want to prove it, they can represent themselves or hire a lawyer that you can't pay for on a judge's salary," Hecht said.

"So, I can raise the money and be a sleazebag, or I don't raise the money and lose and I'm a sleazebag. So maybe that's not quite a fair system, even for judges."

Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, the House sponsor of a bill to pay Hecht's legal fees, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Speaking out

Hecht amassed the legal fees fighting an admonition from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which concluded that the justice had used his position to promote Miers' candidacy.

A three-judge panel sitting in Fort Worth overturned Hecht's admonition in October but did not fault the commission for taking action against Hecht. The panel said the state's code of judicial conduct lacks clarity and should be reviewed.

But in the fundraising letters, Hecht says that the commission misapplied Texas judicial ethics rules and that their decision to admonish him was "blatantly wrong." He also adds that Texas judges should not be "subjected to such abusive treatment by the commission." To remove this "dark blot" on his record, Hecht said, he hired Chip Babcock of Dallas, a lawyer who specializes in First Amendment issues. Babcock said he gave the judge a discount on some services.

In the bank

The Texas Ethics Commission has determined that judges can raise money to pay expenses in connection with the defense of judicial misconduct charges brought against them by the judicial conduct commission.

And nothing prevents a candidate from asking someone to donate a specific amount, said Tim Sorrells, the ethics commission's deputy general counsel.

In the Feb. 3 letter, Hecht writes that according to state law he can only raise money 120 days after an election and not again until the next election. He asks supporters to quickly make a donation by the March 1 deadline.

The justice said on some of the letters he did "scribble some note at the bottom of what it will take to get the money raised."

"If people don't give money, it's fine," Hecht said.

Hecht had only nominal opposition for the $150,000-a-year job in the November election and had only about $107,000 left in his campaign treasury by the end of the year, according to campaign finance reports.

The justice said he won't file a report on exactly how much he has raised until July, when the next campaign expense reports are due.

Feeling uncomfortable

Andrew Wheat, a spokesman for Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit judicial watchdog group, said it is troubling that Hecht is trying to raise money from lawyers who most likely have cases before his court while also asking taxpayers to pay his legal bill.

"It sounds like double-dipping to me," Wheat said. "He wants everybody to pay him for his pain. The lawyers in his courtroom, the taxpayers, too."

And while it's not unprecedented to recommend a contribution amount, Hecht's notes make any rejection of the recommended amount a personal matter, Wheat said.

"A justice asking for a specific amount, that is personal, making the rejection personal," Wheat said.

One lawyer who did not want to be identified as criticizing the senior member of the state's highest court said lawyers can't afford to turn Hecht down, saying it would be a "death wish" if a client had case before the court.

"I understand he can legally do what he is doing, but that doesn't make it right," the lawyer said.

Ralph Duggins, a Fort Worth lawyer, said he didn't agree with the judicial conduct commission's actions and didn't mind giving Hecht money for his legal defense.

"I was not bothered by the request," Duggins said. "He shouldn't have had to spend that kind of time and money on defending the case."

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht owes at least $340,000 in legal fees from his successful defense against a judicial sanction.

WHAT HE WANTS

Hecht wants the state to pick up the tab, and two bills in Austin have been filed at his suggestion.

WHAT HE'S GOT

Hecht said he has collected enough in private donations from lawyers to cover the cost. He says he'll refund the donations if the state picks up the tab.

CAN HE DO IT?

The Texas Ethics Commission has determined that judges can raise money to pay expenses in connection with the defense of judicial misconduct charges brought against them by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

El Paso Times : Miscellaneous payments boost some lawmakers' incomes

State legislators often grouse about their measly $7,200 annual salary, but they make thousands more for travel and work they do in Austin. Six local lawmakers, including one who was attending college in Austin, collected more than $150,000 for travel and work in the capital city last year even though the Legislature convened for just one month.

Miscellaneous payments boost some lawmakers' incomes

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau El Paso Times
03/18/2007

AUSTIN - State legislators often grouse about their measly $7,200 annual salary, but they make thousands more for travel and work they do in Austin.

Six local lawmakers, including one who was attending college in Austin, collected more than $150,000 for travel and work in the capital city last year even though the Legislature convened for just one month.

The El Paso Times reviewed travel and daily pay local legislators received in 2006 and found that, altogether, local lawmakers charged taxpayers for more than 420 days of work they did outside of legislative session.

Legislators said they used the money to defray costs of traveling to Austin regularly to meet with state agencies and attend committee meetings. One local legislator, though, began collecting more state pay and travel expenses about the same time she began classes at the University of Texas at Austin.

"In El Paso, a lot of people go to work and go to school," said state Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso, who received more state pay and travel reimbursement than any other area legislator last year. "I'm no different."

Under the Texas Constitution, legislators are paid a yearly salary of $7,200, or $600 per month.

On top of that salary, lawmakers receive a daily allowance, or a per diem, for housing and meal expenses when they meet in regular or special legislative sessions. They can also get the per diem when the Legislature isn't in session, but they have to request it.

State Reps. Pat Haggerty and Chente Quintanilla each requested and received more than $10,000 in per diem pay between legislative sessions last year. State Rep. Joe Pickett collected $8,000, while state Rep. Paul Moreno got $6,000 and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh received $2,000.

"I actually don't think the state is overgenerous," Pickett said. "It's not something most people could live on."

Shapleigh said the reason his travel expenses were lower is that he spent most of his budget on publications for and mail to his constituents.

"Each member makes their own choice as to how best represent their constituents," he said.

Last year, Chávez collected about $19,600 in per diem pay and was reimbursed more than $11,500 for travel costs between legislative sessions.

Adding together salary, per diem and travel expenses for all of last year, Chávez made more than $43,000. The median household income in El Paso is about $31,000.

As chairwoman of the House Border and International Affairs Committee, Chávez was eligible to collect the per diem of $132 for 16 days of each month when legislators were not in session.

From July to December, Chávez collected an allowance for the maximum number of days the rules allow and her travel expenses increased.

She started attending classes at UT-Austin in August, working on a bachelor's degree in government.

She said she does not use taxpayer dollars to attend school in Austin, but she does schedule her trips to the Capitol around her class schedule.

"We coordinated my dates in Austin for that purpose to coincide with my school days," Chávez said.

She added that she paid for her tuition through a loan she took out on the home her father owns in Austin and that she purchased her own books.

"The state, the taxpayers or the Legislature does not pay for my college," she said.

The six-term lawmaker said she is a full-time legislator who does more constituent work than any other local legislator. It's a challenge to balance schoolwork and legislative work, but Chávez said her education would benefit the people in her district.

Asked why she decided to complete her degree at UT Austin instead of at UTEP, in her hometown, Chávez said that she had previously attended UT-Austin and that it was expedient to resume classes there because it is close to the Capitol.

"My constituents have been very supportive of my returning to school, and I obviously work here at the Capitol," she said.

A review of documents Chávez filed to request per diem pay and travel reimbursement, though, does not make clear what kind of work she did in Austin to warrant legislative pay.

The only reason the documents provide for the expense is "attend to legislative duties."

Steve Adrian, executive director of Texas House business operations, said that that is all the explanation required for lawmakers to collect per diem pay and travel reimbursement.

"We take their word for it that that's what they were doing," Adrian said.

The per diem pay lawmakers got between sessions, he said, came out of their monthly office budget of $11,250. Most legislators, he said, did not request per diem payment for the full number of days they were allowed.

Andrew Wheat, research director for watchdog group Texas Public Citizen, said looking beyond legislators' annual salary reveals some pretty decent perks, including healthy campaign accounts and a generous pension plan.

He said lawmakers should be paid for travel and work they do for their constituents, but he said they should prove that was their reason for using taxpayer dollars.

"If there is a valid purpose for any state remuneration," he said, "then you would think that lawmakers would have same obligation, as any other state bureaucrat, to document the expense."

Brandi Grissom can be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;
(512) 479-6606.

El Paso Times Correction
Andrew Wheat was incorrectly identified in a story about lawmakers' incomes in Sunday's El Paso Times. Wheat is research director for Texans for Public Justice.

Dallas Morning News: Justice raises $340,000 for legal fees in Miers case

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht has raised $340,000 in contributions to pay legal bills in defending himself against charges that he violated judicial ethics in promoting Harriet Miers' failed U.S. Supreme Court nomination. And he has asked Rep. Toby Goolsby, R-Dallas, to introduce a bill allowing him to sue the state to recover his attorneys' fees. Read the article at the Dallas Morning News

Justice raises $340,000 for legal fees in Miers case

Hecht seeks legislation to recover costs; group says state shouldn't pay

By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
Friday, March 16, 2007

AUSTIN – Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht has raised $340,000 in contributions to pay legal bills in defending himself against charges that he violated judicial ethics in promoting Harriet Miers' failed U.S. Supreme Court nomination.

And he has asked Rep. Toby Goolsby, R-Dallas, to introduce a bill allowing him to sue the state to recover his attorneys' fees.

In a February fundraising letter to political donors, Justice Hecht said "there may be no decision [on his dispute with the state] for years. Meanwhile, I must raise the funds myself. I hope you will help me with this burden."

On Thursday, Justice Hecht said he had collected $340,000. "I got enough to cover the fees," he said.

The Republican justice said he still wants the Legislature to pass the bill permitting him to sue the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

That panel publicly admonished Justice Hecht last year, accusing him of improperly using his office to build support for Ms. Miers' appointment.

Justice Hecht, a close friend of Ms. Miers', spoke publicly and conducted private conference calls with groups the White House sought to influence on her behalf, including evangelicals.

In one call, he told a group of Christian conservatives that he was confident Ms. Miers would support overturning the 1973 decision legalizing abortion, according to those who attended. Ms. Miers later withdrew from consideration for the high court.

A special court of review dismissed the sanction against Justice Hecht, but it did not find that the commission had acted improperly.

Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit group that tracks campaign money, said the state should not be forced to reimburse Justice Hecht.

"Either the state should pay the legal bills over everyone who's acquitted of state charges, or it should pay the legal bills of no such exonerated party," he said.

"Justice Hecht seems to think his case is more important than that of every Joe Schmo charged by the state."

Justice Hecht said that because the admonition was overturned, the state should pay his legal costs. State law protects the government from such lawsuits, but the Legislature can make exceptions.

"The legislation would let any judge in these circumstances get their attorney fees," he said. "If a judge doesn't have it, he really faces a lot of bad alternatives."

Justice Hecht also said judges don't make enough money to pay the high legal bills from such litigation and can't allow an attorney to represent them for free because it would look improper.

He said the law firm that represented him contributed some of its time for free and agreed to designate some of its fees as an in-kind campaign contribution.

The names of the Hecht donors will be disclosed July 15 when state officials file their next campaign disclosure reports.

AAS: Howard says legislators need to cool off before lobbying

Austin Rep. Donna Howard pitched a proposal sure to draw legislative attention Wednesday. But her House Bill 602 was all but pronounced dead on arrival—by someone testifying for it. The measure would bar legislators from becoming Capitol lobbyists for two years after they end their legislative terms. Read the blog at the Austin American-Statesman

POSTCARDS FROM THE LEGE: AAS Blog

Howard says legislators need to cool off before lobbying

By W. Gardner Selby
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Austin Rep. Donna Howard pitched a proposal sure to draw legislative attention Wednesday. But her House Bill 602 was all but pronounced dead on arrival—by someone testifying for it. The measure would bar legislators from becoming Capitol lobbyists for two years after they end their legislative terms. “I am not trying to prevent anyone from following a logical career progression,” Howard told the House Committee on Elections. She said instead she hopes legislators combat distrust of public officials by regulating themselves. Fat chance, said Andrew Wheat, testifying on behalf of Texans for Public Justice, a non-partisan group best known for tracking campaign spending. Wheat, favoring the proposal, said more than 25 states impose a cooling-off period on former legislators before they can become lobbyists. But “I am predicting that it will not pass,” Wheat said, saying in a statement that the measure “must run a bloody gauntlet past those sitting legislators who already have contemplated future lobby careers. .. I urge you to prove me wrong.” Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, likewise expressed pessimism. He followed the presentation by passing to members a suggested substitute imposing the two-year restriction on aides to GOP Gov. Rick Perry. The committee left the matter pending.

Austin American-Statesman: Abbott on hot seat in '07 legislative session

Attorney General Greg Abbott hasn't lingered in the Texas Capitol lately. But his influence looms over lawmakers who one day might be calling him lieutenant governor, or governor. Any day now, Abbott is expected to weigh in on Republican Gov. Rick Perry's power to issue executive orders, specifically a February mandate for vaccinating preteen girls against human papillomavirus. Read the article at the Austin American-Statesman

Abbott on hot seat in '07 legislative session

Attorney general's actions on top issues likely to figure in expected run for lieutenant governor

By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, March 11, 2007

Attorney General Greg Abbott hasn't lingered in the Texas Capitol lately. But his influence looms over lawmakers who one day might be calling him lieutenant governor, or governor.

His recent opinion that county officials are subject to criminal prosecution for releasing records containing Social Security numbers prompted legislators to quickly propose a patch in state law. And his losing fight defending the state against a Medicaid lawsuit is expected to result in an order as soon as next month, potentially costing the state millions or billions of dollars.

Any day now, Abbott is expected to weigh in on Republican Gov. Rick Perry's power to issue executive orders, specifically a February mandate for vaccinating preteen girls against human papillomavirus.

Abbott's office also is reviewing legislation targeting illegal immigrants and overseeing one of at least seven investigations into the abuse of juveniles housed in Texas Youth Commission facilities, high-profile issues in the ongoing legislative session that ends in May.

Huge political stakes could ride on how his advice plays, perhaps affecting the state's ruling Republicans, some of them eyeing bids for higher office in 2010, assuming Perry does not seek re-election.

Abbott, 49, was a candidate for lieutenant governor for several months in 2001 before the attorney general's job opened. There's talk of him trying afresh if Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst seeks another post.

Friends say Abbott, a former state district judge, even enjoys the scut work of politics many officeholders abhor.

Dallas lawyer Deborah Hankinson served on the Texas Supreme Court with Abbott, who was appointed to the court by Gov. George W. Bush in 1995.

"I didn't like raising money," she said. "He likes doing that. He enjoys the strategizing, the campaigning, the fundraising. . . . every aspect. Greg enjoyed every day, whether he was going to be out doing politics or he was going to be working at the court."

Royal Masset, a Republican consultant mindful of Abbott's zest, rates him the GOP favorite to succeed Dewhurst if Perry sets off the political dominoes. Abbott is better known than State Comptroller Susan Combs, Masset said, and hails from Houston, a strong Republican base.

Abbott also enthralls Christian conservatives, Masset suggested. His office defeated a lawsuit that challenged the legality of keeping a monument listing the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds. In June, Abbott talked up his defense of the law.

"It doesn't matter what the Clintons and Kennedys do on the East Coast; it doesn't matter what the liberals do on the Left Coast," Abbott told delegates to the Republican state convention. "On the Gulf Coast, our children proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, the Ten Commandments still stand on the Texas Capitol grounds, and marriage will always be between one man and one woman."

Big advantages

Though Abbott is constrained by the law and his duties as the state's chief civil lawyer, how his advice affects legislative issues could figure in any run he makes for higher office.

This month, his political acuity was tested when he unleashed a ruling on public records and privacy laws.

Fort Bend County Attorney Roy Cordes Jr. asked a year and a half ago whether county clerks who release public documents without redacting Social Security numbers could be subject to criminal charges.

Abbott's answer, saying clerks could be charged, touched off panic. County clerks shut down their document sections, stunning people who rely on the records.

County and district attorneys quarrelled with Abbott's logic. He then distributed a letter saying he was merely interpreting the law, not passing judgment on it. And a few days later, he suspended the opinion for 60 days to give the Legislature time to act. House members have approved a measure removing the criminal penalties and sent it to the Senate.

The episode had some speculating that Abbott satisfied Texans who had privacy concerns while timing the release of his opinion so the Legislature would feel the brunt of criticism and have an opportunity to act.

Abbott boasts two advantages on any legislator considering a run against him: no voting record on legislation subject to nitpicking and a hefty warchest. He started this year with nearly $6 million in campaign cash, more than any other state officeholder.

Over a brisket taco lunch, Abbott recently said he stockpiled money last year in case his Democratic opponent for attorney general, San Antonio lawyer David Van Os, surprised him with a barrage of advertising.

Van Os ran a low-dollar campaign. Abbott spent nearly $4 million to Van Os' $156,005 and won nearly 60 percent of the vote.

Van Os' biggest donors were labor unions, but Abbott benefited largely from business interests, according to Texans for Public Justice, which tracks campaign finances. Abbott's top donor, Republican benefactor Bob Perry of Houston, gave him $520,265 from 2003 through last year.

Asked about plans for his campaign kitty, Abbott hearkened the freak accident that left him partially paralyzed in 1984. He was jogging in Houston when a tree fell on him.

"We'll wait and see," Abbott said. "I don't know if, by the next election cycle, a tree is going to fall on me."

Important cases

Within a week or two, Abbott is expected to respond to a request from Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, and Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, on the authority of governors to issue executive orders and if lawmakers have any recourse to overrule them.

At issue is Perry's Feb. 2 order that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission develop rules requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against HPV, some strains of which can cause cervical cancer. Perry said parents could opt their children out. His order, welcomed by some, touched off a legislative firestorm.

Keffer called the requested opinion "very important — for this Legislature and future Legislatures to know what an executive order is and what it's not."

Nelson said she sought Abbott's guidance without expecting a particular result: "Common sense tells me that (the issue of the mandate) needs to go through the legislative process."

Outside lawyers suggest that governors have a limited ability to issue executive orders, such as after natural disasters. Perry's office defends his action by citing constitutional language designating the governor the state's chief executive.

Abbott could not recall a governor's authority to issue executive orders coming up in his five-plus years on the Supreme Court.

"It's a novel legal issue," he said. "It's an issue that is rarely challenged. It's the kind of thing that there may be more gray than black and white to it."

Last month, lawyers under Abbott did not convince Travis County state district Judge Stephen Yelenosky that Perry had the right to order fast-tracking of permits for power plants in 2005. Yelenosky issued an injunction Feb. 22 saying Perry lacked such authority.

Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, has asked Abbott's office to review more than 20 proposals relating to illegal immigrants. The House Committee on State Affairs, which Swinford chairs, intends to hold hearings on the measures this month and again in April.

Swinford said he doesn't want to advance proposals obviously bearing only on federal law. Referring to Abbott's responsibility to defend Texas in court, he said: "It puts him in a spot if we pass this junk. I don't want to spend a lot of the state's money losing these cases."

For inquiries on executive orders and immigration legislation, Abbott's office said his advice will be informal. It will be up to legislators to make it public.

Undecided future

Given the position Abbott holds, it would be a surprise if he didn't leap for higher office in 2010. The five attorneys general since 1973 each ran for another office. Democrat Mark White became governor in 1983. Republican John Cornyn joined the U.S. Senate in late 2002.

Democratic consultant Kelly Fero, a former aide to Attorneys General Jim Mattox and Dan Morales, said, "Most modern AGs find themselves involved in every major issue facing the state. So it's a natural progression for them to try for a higher office that might allow them to define public policy rather than simply defend it."

Abbott, asked a second time to air his ambitions, returned to the accident that put him in a wheelchair.

"I was one of those people — you may be one, too — where I went around thinking things like that happen to someone else. I was oblivious to the notion that anything like that would ever happen to me. My perspective on that has changed. And I know that you never know, as silly as this may sound, you never know when a tree is going to fall on you.

"Because of that, it has changed, in a way, what I focus on. . . . Ask anyone who really knows me, what's the most important thing to Greg Abbott? They'll tell you, it's my family. I miss events all the time so I can do homework with my daughter. And I know that if I don't know when a tree is going to fall on me, I'm looking at how I spend each day and what my priorities are that day."

An aide said he expects Abbott to remain in politics.

"He's 100 percent committed to his family. He's equally committed to forging a better Texas," said Daniel Hodge, Abbott's chief of staff.

wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644
Additional material from staff writer Mark Lisheron.

Lobby Watch:Leftover Campaign Funds Grease the Revolving Door

Several former lawmakers who recently moved from the Texas House into the Texas lobby sweetened this transition by transferring thousands of leftover campaign dollars to political committees or non-profits controlled by the very lobby interests that hired them as they left the legislature.
Read the Lobby Watch

Houston Chronicle: Revolving door always open for ex-politicians

Robert Eckels expects to work at two jobs this week — Harris County judge until Tuesday, Fulbright & Jaworski partner starting Wednesday. That's a faster transition than usual, and Eckels is leaving earlier in his term than most, but the move between public and private life called the revolving door has spun for many Texas politicians before him. "It raises questions in the public's mind about whose interest a public official is representing at any given time," said Andrew Wheat, research director for Texans For Public Justice, a nonprofit organization that tracks money and politics. "Is it the public's interest or are they eyeing the next job?"

Revolving door always open for ex-politicians

By KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
March 5, 2007

Robert Eckels expects to work at two jobs this week — Harris County judge until Tuesday, Fulbright & Jaworski partner starting Wednesday.

That's a faster transition than usual, and Eckels is leaving earlier in his term than most, but the move between public and private life called the revolving door has spun for many Texas politicians before him.

It most often transports elected officials who are defeated or don't seek re-election.

Two of the state's top judges, however, joined the private sector in Houston voluntarily with time left in their terms, as Eckels is doing, and a state representative from Houston revolved soon after winning nomination for another term.

The officials and their private employers say the skills and expertise that worked in the public sector are useful to private employers who simply want help navigating the system.

Government watchdog groups decry the revolving door, saying officials use knowledge and contacts developed in public office to advance private interests.

Eckels has said he does not plan to lobby, and he has no immediate expectation of involvement in Fulbright & Jaworski's Harris County business — mostly bond issue work — though he would not totally rule it out.

Many become lobbyists

Unlike their federal and city of Houston counterparts, Harris County and Texas officials aren't prohibited from lobbying their former public employers for a period after they leave.

Seventy former Texas lawmakers are registered as lobbyists, the highest figure in the nation, according to a study last year by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based investigative journalism operation specializing in politics,

"It raises questions in the public's mind about whose interest a public official is representing at any given time," said Andrew Wheat, research director for Texans For Public Justice, a nonprofit organization that tracks money and politics. "Is it the public's interest or are they eyeing the next job?"

John Hill liked the job he had in the late 1980s, when he was chief justice of the state Supreme Court. He crusaded against the partisan election system that drives judges to accept campaign contributions from lawyers and other special interests. He advocated a system of gubernatorial appointments and retention elections.

Yet it was the same issue that persuaded him to step down from the bench and join a Houston law firm in 1988, two years into a six-year term.

The Supreme Court received negative national attention when CBS' 60 Minutes highlighted large campaign contributions and questioned whether justice was "for sale."

"The issue became so controversial, both on the court and in the public domain," Hill said in an interview last week.

"I regret that I didn't serve out my full term," he said. "I wasn't dissatisfied with being chief justice. But I had a lot of opposition and I felt it was affecting the court adversely."

Hill left the court and became a name partner in the Houston-based law firm now known as Locke, Liddell & Sapp.

"Hill is a legend in Texas law and politics. He brings such a reputation in terms of abilities, knowledge of the law and judicial process," said Bruce LaBoon, a senior partner at the firm.

Hill headed the litigation practice for a number of years, LaBoon said, and became "a great rainmaker" — a person who brings clients to the firm.

Among clients Hill drew were MetLife Insurance, the drug company Eli Lily and the Texas Medical Center.

Life beyond the bench

Hill's successor, Tom Phillips, also pushed for changes in the judicial system and also left in midterm.

Phillips said last week that he left partly because he was fully vested in the retirement system, which he referred to as a "gentle form of term limits," and did not view the Texas judiciary as a lifetime career.

He taught constitutional law at South Texas College of Law for a year as a transition between public and private life.

"I did not want to be looking for a job while I was sitting as the judicial officer of the state and I didn't want to be unemployed either," Phillips said.

The law firm Baker Botts initiated conversations with Phillips soon after he left the bench.

"The primary value he has bought is to elevate significantly the profile of our nationwide appellate practice and attract business opportunities for the firm," said Stephen Tipps, a partner at the firm.

"Highly qualified, highly talented elected officials are always going to have many opportunities in the private sector," Tipps said.

Phillips has argued a billion-dollar divorce case before the state Supreme Court, and he has another case pending in the court he once headed.

Phillips' clients include the Rhode Island-based Millennium Chemical and Pennsylvania-based packaging company Crown Cork & Seal.

Phillips says his career as a lawyer and judge gave him good insight into what "arguments are worth making and how to structure them in a way busy judges would find appealing."

Too good to pass up

State Rep. Gerard Torres of Houston had won the Democratic nomination for re-election in 1998 and was campaigning against a Republican challenger when Reliant Energy offered him a lobbying job.

Torres says he initially turned the offer down, but he reconsidered after political and community leaders told him the position was too good to pass up.

At the time Reliant didn't have a Hispanic on its lobby team and considered that a deficiency, said Bruce Gibson, then-senior VP of government affairs.

"We created a profile for a 'Gerard Torres-type,' someone who was smart and personable, knew the process from the inside, and could work with anybody," Gibson said.

Reliant couldn't come up with anyone who matched all of those qualities, except Torres.

Torres now works for the Greater Houston Partnership.

Dallas Morning News: When court cases get held up by Legislature

Nearly two years after Tab Dotson died in a pipeline explosion in Wise County, the negligence case his relatives filed against the energy company that owns the pipeline has yet to go to court. And they'll have to wait even longer because they're up against an attorney who happens to be a state representative. "If you're a sole practitioner and you do 'street law,' that's OK," Mr. McDonald said. "If you are a hired gun that a corporation or special interest comes in to stop a proceeding against them, that looks like it could be abuse." Read the article at the Dallas Morning News

When court cases get held up by Legislature

Session again to grapple with ethics of continuances

Monday, March 5, 2007
By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News


AUSTIN – Nearly two years after Tab Dotson died in a pipeline explosion in Wise County, the negligence case his relatives filed against the energy company that owns the pipeline has yet to go to court. And they'll have to wait even longer because they're up against an attorney who happens to be a state representative.

A month before the March 20 trial date, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford – hired to defend EnCana from the lawsuit in February – used a much-debated legislative privilege to delay it until the summer.

Attorneys for the family say Mr. King is using his political office to keep his clients out of court. Mr. King counters that the delay was necessary for other reasons and that the plaintiffs are putting political pressure on him so he will persuade the Canadian energy company to settle.

The case crystallizes the debate over "legislative continuances" used by lawyer-legislators to delay cases while they're in session. For more than 75 years, Texas law has required judges to allow a legislator to delay proceedings in which the lawmaker represents one of the parties, if the Legislature is in session. Not all of them use the delay, but it's available to the estimated one-third of lawmakers who are also lawyers.

Critics say it leads to abuse by corporations who hire lawmakers simply for the built-in trial delays. In 2003, the state began requiring lawmakers to disclose these continuances to ethics officials.

Dripping Springs Democrat Patrick Rose, a House committee chairman and practicing lawyer, said he filed a bill to kill the practice after years of stories surfacing over its misuse.

Supporters, though, say the practice is necessary because legislators, who make just $7,200 a year, need to be able to make a living outside Austin.

Curtailing the continuances would restrict the client's ability to hire the attorney he or she wants, said Jay Harvey, president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

And some lawmakers are looking to expand the privilege beyond lawyer-legislators. A bill by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, would allow lawmakers to delay court appearances in lawsuits until after a session, even if the lawmaker isn't an attorney.

Advocacy groups say judges should be given authority to deny continuances based on how long the lawmaker's been on the case, whether he or she is the only attorney in the case, and whether the lawmaker has background on the issue.

Tighter rules may have stopped former Rep. Gabi Canales, a Democrat from Alice, from delaying lawsuits against the maker of a diet drug who hired her immediately after her election – but before her first legislative session – in spite of her lack of history in such cases, said Craig McDonald, executive director of Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group that sued Ms. Canales over the continuances.

The story made national headlines, and she lost her bid for re-election after one term.

From September 2003 to May 2006 – the first 2 ½ years of disclosure of the practice – 32 lawmakers filed 431 continuances. The high number is partly because lawmakers spent so much time in Austin in special sessions and had to postpone their cases more frequently, advocates and lawmakers say.

As of last month, 16 lawmakers had filed a few dozen legislative continuances in connection with this session – and the ones with the highest number appear to be dealing with traffic tickets or divorce cases or representing plaintiffs in years-long class-action suits.

"If you're a sole practitioner and you do 'street law,' that's OK," Mr. McDonald said. "If you are a hired gun that a corporation or special interest comes in to stop a proceeding against them, that looks like it could be abuse."

Jason Stephens, the attorney representing the Dotson family, says that's exactly what the energy company is doing.

Mr. King, the lawmaker, joined the case in mid-February, shortly after the defendants brought in a Houston law firm in January. A few days later, he obtained the 90-day delay.

Mr. King was "never even mentioned" in connection with the case until the family's attorneys declined to settle the case or go along with the delay request, Mr. Stephens said.

The lawmaker said he filed the delay because the opposing attorneys had asked a judge to disqualify him and he couldn't attend the hearing on that motion.

The case probably would have gotten a delay without him, Mr. King said, because EnCana had changed law firms in January and would have been given more time to prepare for the trial. The Houston firm hired Mr. King because he had done work for them in the past and needed a local attorney, he said.