Texas lawmakers-turned-lobbyists finance former colleagues with campaign cash

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Lawmakers who become lobbyists are sitting on substantial campaign funds to donate to former colleagues -- the very people they are now being paid to influence.

How much are they sitting on exactly? Legislators who have sauntered through the revolving door into sweet lobbying gigs have $1 million in campaign cash at their disposal.

Texas Watchdog looked at lawmakers-turned-lobbyists who have cut checks to elected officials from their campaign accounts. We found at least nine last year who had done so. This elite group paid some $18,000 to the causes and campaigns of their former colleagues last year, with donations ranging from $100 to $2,500.

At least one lawmaker and a good government group said the ability of this group to disperse campaign cash to the elected officials they are being paid to influence raises significant concerns: The potential to use former campaign donations to add muscle to a lobbying effort looms large.

“This is money that was contributed by supporters who were trying to get someone elected to be their representative,” state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin (pictured at left) said. “It seems questionable to then use that same pool of money for the benefit of an industry rather than that of your constituents. It is legally done -- we don’t prohibit that -- but it gives the appearance of the conflict of interest if not an outright conflict of interest."

Legislators who leave office have at least six years to spend the remaining balance of their campaign accounts, according to the Texas Ethics Commission. Former lawmakers can return donations or give the money to charity, but many choose to use the funds to make political contributions.

Patrick Haggerty, longtime Republican state representative from El Paso and a lobbyist since 2007, gave 14 donations to Republicans and Democrats, according to the campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. Robert "Robby" Cook, D-Eagle Lake, who turned to lobbying the same year after a decade in the legislature, made a dozen bipartisan donations.

When asked if he thought his donations, all $250 or less, helped him curry favor, Haggerty said that was "the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"I guess that if you gave someone a whole wad of money (you could buy influence), but I don’t think $100 buys a whole lot," he said. "It's just a silly question if you think you can buy any politician for a hundred bucks. Anyone in their right mind charges more than that."

Haggerty, who lost his seat in the 2008 primary, last year reported lobbying contracts worth up to $425,000 for clients including the Licensed Beverage Distributors and Bingo Interest Group. Among his 14 political contributions last year was $100 to Edmund Kuempel, R-Sequin. Kuempel is the chairman of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, which oversees liquor and gambling laws and regulation.

The issue is not about specific legislation, said Andrew Wilson, who specializes in campaign finance issues for Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader.

“All of the research, all of the academic literature on campaign finance shows again and again that campaign donors get access," Wilson said. "It does not always buy influence, but it always gets access. Access is more valuable currency to a lobbyist than actual currency."

The same sorts of connections can be found in the donations of $100 to $1,000 made by Cook. During his legislative tenure, Cook authored several bills important to groundwater conservation districts, public agencies that operate under the Texas Water Development Board.

Last year three conservation districts gave Cook contracts worth up to $75,000. Among his dozen donations was $500 to Kip Averitt, R-Waco, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which, coincidentally, deals with bills concerning groundwater conservation districts.

Cook did not return voicemails seeking his comment.

IN TEXAS, LAWMAKERS CAN BECOME LOBBYISTS WITH NO WAITING PERIOD

Another recent example is Fred Hill, the former Republican state representative from Richardson who in 2009 registered as a lobbyist and donated $1,000 out of his $190,000 campaign fund to Rep. Carol Kent, D-Dallas. Kent is a member of the House Urban Affairs Committee, a committee Hill once chaired and which considers many of the bills important to Hill's clients, including Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the Dallas Citizens Council and the City of Dallas.

Hill, who reported to the state Ethics Commission lobbying contracts of up to $800,000 last year, said he met with Kent once or twice during the session to discuss bills and issues he had been hired to cover. Hill said Kent did not do him any favors, nor was there a promise of a contribution in return for favors. Hill added that bills relevant to his clients went to many different committees, not just Urban Affairs.

A Texas Watchdog reporter reached Kent's staff, who agreed to pass on a message, but was not contacted by Kent with a response.

“Honestly I cannot tell you specifically how she voted on anything on the Urban Affairs Committee,” Hill said. “The contributions I made were well after the session was over so they had nothing to do with any specific legislation.”

Some Capitol Hill watchers think the way to blunt the influence of legislators making a career change to lobbyist is to institute a waiting period in between. Such a cooling-off period would not affect a legislator's campaign fund or how it could be spent.

Texas was among 19 states without a waiting period, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures study that looked at laws through 2007.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is running for governor, recently proposed that lawmakers be made to wait two years before becoming lobbyists.

Howard proposed similar legislation in 2007, but it never made it out of the House Elections Committee.

“We already have a cooling off period for agency heads and commission members. If we think it is good enough for them, then why not for ourselves?” Howard said.

CORRECTION: Patrick Haggerty is a Republican. His party was misidentified in an earlier version of this story. Texas Watchdog regrets the error.

Ben Wright is a freelancer for Texas Watchdog. Contact him at 713-980-9777 or news@texaswatchdog.org.

Photo of a revolving door by flickr user bitchcakesny.

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JerseyDego Wednesday, 02/17/2010 - 05:54AM Republicans would never, ever, try to pay someone in order to influence their vote on an issue. And they would never, ever, use money donated for their campaign to pay someone off, this must be a mistake. I bet they are really Democrats dressed in Republican clothing.