August 23, 2007

Ex-Texas Lawmakers Had Six-Figure
Lobby Tab During Legislative Session

Schlueter, Toomey and Tidwell Spent Most on Food
and Drinks among Legislators Who Are Lobbyists

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Ex-lawmakers who now lobby shelled out an additional $20,000 on entertainment, gifts, advertising, fundraisers and other expenses for the benefit of Texas House and Senate members and their families and staffs while the Legislature was in session during the first five months of 2007.

The expenditures are listed in monthly reports that were filed with the Texas Ethics Commission between February and June. Most of the former legislators who are registered to lobby in Texas represent multiple clients while a few such as Russ Tidwell of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and TXU's Curtis Seidlits work exclusively for one employer.

Of almost four dozen former legislators who filed lobby spending reports this year, Tidwell had the third largest tab after buying almost $9,000 worth of food and drinks while the session was in progress in the course of his work as a member of TTLA's high-powered lobby team. Tidwell served less than one year in the House as an Austin Democrat after winning a special election in 1984 then losing in the general election that year.

Stan Schlueter, who chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee during a 12-year House stint as a Killeen Democrat, spent more than any other former legislator on food and beverages while lobbying current lawmakers with a bill of more than $11,000 during the session this year. Schlueter, who stepped down from the Legislature in 1989, is one of the highest paid lobbyists in Texas with a long list clients including casino operator Harrah's, TXU, AT&T, Philip Morris and the city of Killeen.

The ex-Texas lawmaker with the second largest bill for food and drinks while lobbying was Mike Toomey, who was Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff for two years before returning to the lobby in 2004. Toomey, who served five years in the House as Houston Republican in the 1980s, reported spending more than $10,000 on meals and beverages as part of his job as a lobbyist while legislators were in session this year. Toomey's tab for January alone was larger than the bill that all but six former legislators who now lobby reported for the entire session.

Eddie Cavazos - a Democrat from Corpus Christi during a 10-year House stint that ended in 1993 - was fourth among former legislators in lobby expenditures during the session this year with a bill of more than $8,600 for food and drinks. Former Texas House members Neal T. "Buddy" Jones and Bill Messer were next on the list with tabs for food and beverages of about $8,000 and $7,000 respectively in their work as lobbyists for a myriad of clients. Messer reported spending $700 on gifts as well during the session this year. Jones served one term as a Hillsboro Democrat in the early 1980s. Messer, a Belton Democrat during a seven-year House stint from 1979 to 1986, chaired the Calendars Committee part of that time.

Former House member Ron Lewis ranked seventh among ex-lawmakers in lobby expenditures during the session with a bill of more than $6,800. But less than half of the expenditures that Lewis reported were for food and drinks while more than $2,000 was used to buy gifts in the course of his lobbying efforts while the session was under way. Lewis' legislative career as a Mauiceville Democrat spanned 17 years before he gave up his House seat in 2002.

Former House Republicans Todd Baxter of Austin and Bill Siebert of San Antonio are eighth and ninth on the list of ex-lawmakers who had the highest lobby expenditures during the regular session after shelling out about $6,300 and $6,000 respectively on food and beverages while lobbying. Baxter is the chief lobbyist for the Texas Cable & Telecommunications Association.

Former House member Robert Saunders and ex-senator A.R. "Babe" Schwartz - both Democrats while in the Legislature - were 10th and 11th with bills of about $6,000 and $5,000 respectively. Seidlits, a former House Democrat who's one of TXU's top lobbyists at the Texas Capitol, had the 12th highest bill among fellow ex-lawmakers who now lobby at about $4,700 during the session.

The former lawmakers who spent the most lobbying current members were not as generous in the bars, restaurants and gift shops as some of their peers in the Austin lobby proved to be during the session this year. Joe Garcia, a member of the Texas Lobby Group with Messer and Toomey, spent more than $15,000 on food and drinks lobbying legislators while they were in session.

Sabrina Thomas Brown - the daughter of ex-state Senate member J.E. "Buster" Brown - had a $14,500 lobby tab that was three times more than her father reported during the first five months of 2007. Nora Del Bosque, whose sister is the chief of staff to House Speaker Tom Craddick, reported spending almost $14,000 on food and beverages while lobbying during the session.

Rusty Kelley of Public Strategies and Mario Martinez had lobby tabs that topped $12,000 while the Legislature was in session. Steve Bresnen, whose lobby client list includes the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and AT&T, came within a few hundred dollars of the $12,000 mark on lobbying expenditures during the first five months of the year.

The expenditures reported by all of the former lawmakers who lobby combined weren't as high as the $170,000 bill that Robert Johnson reported for the five-month period while the Legislature was in session. Almost all of that was listed in the category for mass media communications.

But Johnson's bill was a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to that reported by Clifford Angelo, whose only client during the session was Texas Energy Future Holdings Limited Partnership, the private investors group that's in the process of buying TXU. Angelo spent $11.6 million on advertising in his work as a lobbyist during the first five months of 2007.