Some of Texas' Highest Paid [Taxpayer Funded] Lobbyists

Over the past couple weeks, Texas Scorecard has examined some of Texas’ highest-paid lobbyists. By using data from Transparency USA, we’ve looked at their backgrounds, how much they are being paid to influence elected officials, and who their clients are. Here are the lobbyists we’ve profiled so far:

• Daniel Hodge - Formerly Gov. Greg Abbott’s Chief of Staff, Hodge left to join the lobby in 2017....and quickly became the highest-paid lobbyist in the state, with a maximum reported income of $8,269,999.

• Reed Clay - Another former staffer to Gov. Greg Abbott, Clay served as deputy Chief of Staff. Now he lobbies for up to $4,675,000, with a vast array of taxpayer-funded clients and major corporations.

• Robert Miller - Raking in up to $4,109,999, Miller is a large beneficiary of taxpayer-funded lobbying with public agencies in the Houston area, including the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, the Houston Police Officers’ Pension System, University of Houston, the Port of Houston authority, and the City of Galveston Employees’ Retirement Plan for Police.

• Royce Poinsett - Former legal advisor to Gov. Rick Perry, Poinsett now makes up to $4,320,000 from his clients—from business associations like the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers, to taxpayer-funded entities like the Guadalupe River Authority.

• Todd Smith - A political consultant to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, Smith is also a lobbyist, making up to an estimated $5,169,999 from lobbying in the past two years. 3 percent of Smith’s clients are taxpayer-funded, including the City of Stephenville.

• Andrea McWilliams - With a maximum income amount of $8,089,999 over two years, McWilliams is the second highest-paid lobbyist in Texas. Her top client is Ryan LLC, a firm that often seeks special tax breaks for its clients from the legislature.

• Dean McWilliams - With over $7 million in lobby contracts, he’s the third highest-paid lobbyist behind his wife, Andrea. The two notably have contracts with MTX Group, which was awarded a state contract to bring contact tracing to Texas. The program has been criticized for its inefficiency and its overstepping adoption of a state policy without the state Legislature’s involvement, as well as the potential violation of HIPAA requirements, privacy, and civil liberties.

• Carol McGarah - Making up to $6,369,999, McGarah is the CEO of Blackridge, a large lobbying firm in Texas. McGarah specializes in environment regulation, and also receives 17 percent of her contracts from taxpayer-funded entities.

• Rusty Kelley - With contracts worth up to $6,384,999, Kelley lobbies for a number of major corporations as well as local governments, including Waco, Amarillo, Lubbock, Pecos City, and Reeves County.

Taxpayers in Texas fund lobbyists to lobby against their interests. Year after year conservatives try to get the Texas legislature to pass laws to prohibit taxpayer funded lobbying. Session after session, they fail to take action. Becoming a lobbyist is too lucrative for ex-government staffers and politicians for them to take action. These lobbyists make more in a year than most of us make in a lifetime.

2 posted on 02/03/2021 12:37:49 PM PST by The_Media_never_lie (I do not regret my decision to cut all ties with Fox News. )

Help me understand: Are these people “ex government employees” or “current government employees?”

If former employees, is the State of Texas paying them like a contractor?

3 posted on 02/03/2021 12:51:20 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)

One of the out-of-sight and quiet powers in WDC are the special interest firms, the K-Street kids, who have for years controlled national legislation by controlling Congress. They were vehemently opposed to Donald trump as their influence was greatly diminished.

Has anyone done an expose’ on them???

Ex government employees that receive all or almost all of their funding from taxing authorities, such as a city.

5 posted on 02/03/2021 1:02:22 PM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)

“Taxpayers in Texas fund lobbyists to lobby against their interests. Year after year conservatives try to get the Texas legislature to pass laws to prohibit taxpayer funded lobbying. Session after session, they fail to take action. Becoming a lobbyist is too lucrative for ex-government staffers and politicians for them to take action. These lobbyists make more in a year than most of us make in a lifetime.”

...and this is probably why succession is DOA in Austin.

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