Einstein? No, Eppstein: Fort Worth Republican plays both sides of the fence

It's a great gig if you can get it. And Bryan Eppstein's had it for years.

The Fort Worth political strategist helps elect politicians at every level in town, who turn right around and rubber-stamp his lucrative business deals. But now the powerful consultant may have invented an even cozier arrangement: using his lobbying client to provide aid and comfort for his political one in one of the most hotly contested races in Texas.

Earlier this year three members of the Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association, which recently shelled out around $200,000 to Eppstein to help them win a referendum on collective bargaining, filed a lawsuit against Democratic state Senate candidate Wendy Davis. The complaint alleged Davis did not resign from her council seat in time to be eligible for higher office.

And who was the plucky challenger hoping to upend? How about long-time state lawmaker and firebrand Republican Kim Brimer, who just so happens to have Eppstein on his campaign's payroll to the tune of $50,000 for the first seven months of this year.

Nearly six months after the judge dismissed the firefighters' suit, Brimer filed a similar challenge against Davis' candidacy. In July, a state district judge ruled against his bid, but the white-haired businessman has appealed the decision. According to his most recent campaign finance reports, Brimer has spent $17,000 on his lawsuit against Davis.

Jim Tate, the president of the Fort Worth firefighters group, says that his members filed the suit against Davis solely because of the former council member's public stances, which included opposition to a form of collective bargaining for the union. He says that as far as he knows, none of the members who filed the suit consulted with Eppstein or Brimer.

“We’re involved in virtually ever political race in this city, and we make our decisions on the issues in each and every case," he tells Texas Watchdog.

But privately, insiders from both parties scoff at any claim that the firefighters and Brimer were not working hand in hand to tie up Davis in litigation -- with their common consultant giving his big-monied clients their marching orders. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, have poked fun at Eppstein's deep connections to both plaintiffs.

“It’s a coincidence that Eppstein represents the firefighters and Kim Brimer," says a facetious Hector Nieto, the spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party. "It’s a coincidence that the firefighters brought the original suit, and it’s a coincidence that Brimer filed the same exact suit.”

Bryan's song and dance

If every city in the country has its go-to consultant, a political rainmaker who outshines most of the candidates he or she helps elect, Eppstein still outguns nearly all his peers. His roster of clients is staggering. Over the last two years, Eppstein has worked for Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and council members Carter Burdette, Sal Espino and Jungus Jordan, who paid him a whopping $50,000 and change for his services last year.

He also represented the Fort Worth Police and Firefighters union, which came in handy recently when each group pushed for collective bargaining rights -- from some of the same politicos who Eppstein represents.

Outside City Hall, Eppstein has managed a range of successful campaigns from candidates running for Congress, the state House and Senate to the local water board. In Austin, he's registered as a lobbyist representing clients like the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation and the Employees Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth.

Although his work for organized labor would ordinarily make him a pariah among Texas Republicans, particularly a pro-business lawmaker like Brimer, Eppstein is a celebrity of sorts among the GOP faithful. They certainly don't love the guy, and some of the more discrete consultants cringe when he blasts an opposing candidate in the press. But no one disputes an essential fact: Eppstein wins even if he rarely looks pretty doing so.

In 2004, CapitolInside.com, a political website, ranked Bryan Eppstein the most powerful Republican consultant in Texas, which is somewhat akin to being the best opera singer in Venice. This year, the Fort Worth politico slipped -- all the way to second.

You scratch his back ... and he'll scratch his

But Eppstein's success is, at least in part, fueled by his own grade of synergy: He works effectively on behalf of his clients, and in return they pay him handsomely and give him a political handout. For example, two years ago, he helped elect Jim Lane and Marty Leonard to the Tarrant Regional Water District Board. Soon after, the board turned around and gave Eppstein two no-bid contracts for crafting a public relations strategy for its half-billion dollar plan to redirect the Trinity River as it meanders through downtown Fort Worth.

If only the back scratching stopped there. Richard Connor, who has skillfully dissected the board's Trinity River plan for the Fort Worth Business Press, has unravelled the knot of ties Eppstein has to the deep-pocketed public agency. For example, Eppstein has worked on the political campaigns of Congresswoman and former Fort Worth Mayor Kay Granger, who just helped nail down federal funding for the project.

And guess where the congresswoman's son, JD Granger, works? Try the Trinity River Vision Authority, which was conceived by the water board to oversee the massive public works project. As Connor reported, the boy Granger turned around and chose Eppstein for a PR gig without so much as a formal search.

Dizzy yet?

Eppstein's mastery of the dark arts extends to the city council. During a council meeting in 2005, Eppstein submitted a law firm's written request to take over as the city's delinquent tax collector from a rival firm. The members had little time to review the proposal, but while four asked for more time, the other five scrambled to grab their rubber stamp and approve it without thinking. It was the body's last meeting before three newly elected council members were set to be sworn in.

Interestingly, the law firm that lost the tax contract to Eppstein's client filed a suit soon after he began cajoling the council to switch vendors. The complaint alleged that Eppstein was “lobbying the city council and staff to terminate the contract” while taking advantage of “a close working relationship with a substantial majority of city council members as their political consultant.”

Recently, Eppstein also managed to convince the council to award his firm a contract to conduct a citywide constituent survey. Clyde Picht, who served on the council at the time, says that Eppstein's bid was the highest of all the vendors. You can take a guess why he was picked: At the time, Picht says, Eppstein represented a majority of the council's members.

“The biggest problem I have is that he gets contracts from public entities when at that same time he is representing the people who are going to vote on that contract," says Picht, who identifies himself as a Republican. "He's an opportunist, but it's the fault of the city council for letting him get his way."

Photo of Bryan Eppstein on this page courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
 

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