TXU donors gave 82 percent of their money to Republicans; Democrats settled for the remaining 18 percent. The average winning House candidate received $2,124 from TXU PACs and executives. TXU-related donors gave winning Senators an average of $5,174.

TXU Donations
To Rick Perry

By far the largest recipient of TXU money was Governor Rick Perry, who received $104,000 from TXU sources in the 2006 election cycle. TXU donors have given Perry $404,100 since his 1998 lieutenant governor campaign. Perry issued an executive order in October 2005 to fast-track environmental hearings on TXU’s proposed new coal plants. Reaching a preliminary finding that state agencies are not subject to gubernatorial orders, a state district judge this month ordered the state officials conducting the coal plant hearings to ignore Perry’s order.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst ($62,250) and House Speaker Tom Craddick ($35,000) were the next-largest recipients of TXU’s largesse in the 2006 cycle.

TXU’s favorite rank-and-file lawmaker was Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), a hometown senator who does not sit on any TXU-crucial committees ($16,000 from TXU).

Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) ran a close second ($15,493). Fraser has been a big proponent of Texas’ 1999 deregulation of electricity markets—whereby power companies outmaneuvered lawmakers. Late last year Fraser complained about electricity rates shooting up after deregulation rather than falling as promised. Calling TXU “a big part of the problem,” Fraser told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram “there are market participants who have too much market power.”²

In the House, TXU favored Regulated Industries Committee Chair Phil King, R-Weatherford ($10,000), another deregulation champion. “We’re not going to go back and re-regulate,” the same Star-Telegram story quoted King saying. “The toothpaste is already out of the tube with deregulation. But we’ve got to make some substantial changes.”

Top Recipients of TXU Money, 2005-2006

Link to table listing all recipients of TXU money

Apart from supporting candidates, TXU PACs and executives also contributed a total of $70,744 to 21 general-purpose PACs led by the two dominant state political party PACs. TXU donors gave a total of $24,790 to Republican affiliated PACs and $12,750 to Democratic aligned PACs. Other top recipients include the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and a local Electrical Workers union that received TXU PAC money.

Top General Purpose PACs
Reporting TXU-Tied Money

Power politics is nothing new for TXU. Its PACs have spent almost $4.6 million to influence Texas politics since the 1994 election cycle. The company has burning issues before the legislature constantly. Recent highlights include deregulation of Texas’ electricity markets during the 2000 election cycle and the scandal over exemptions freeing filthy “grandfathered” industrial plants from rules mandating the use of modern pollution controls. That scandal peaked during the 1996 and 1998 election cycles.

The TXU Lobby

TXU also exerts a potent lobby influence, traditionally ranking as the state’s No. 2 lobby force after AT&T. TXU has spent up to $24 million on 674 state lobby contracts since 1993. Lobby spending tends to peak in odd-numbered years when the Texas Legislature convenes in regular sessions. Although special interests generally add more lobby contracts as the year progresses, the up to $3.3 million that TXU had spent on 60 lobbyists by late February 2007 already exceeded what it had spent in any previous year.

TXU Corp.’s Lobby Contracts

TXU’s top in-house lobbyists are Mark Malone and former lawmaker Curtis Seidlits. These and other TXU lobbyists have showered lawmakers in gifts. Malone and Seidlits chipped in with other TXU lobbyists in 2005 to give a $300 saddle to Rep. Craig Eiland (D-Galveston) and a $200 bench to House Environmental Regulation Committee Chair Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton).

That same year Malone bought dinner for Sen. Fraser and his entourage when they were TXU’s guests at the Masters golf tournament in Georgia. Malone also gave a $50 gun to House Natural Resources Committee member Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) and a $100 jacket to Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock).

Three other TXU lobbyists paid “deer processing” costs for House Environmental Regulation Committee Vice Chair Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land) and House Energy Resources Committee Chair Buddy West (R-Odessa). TXU lobbyists also processed dead deer for Reps. Isett and Warren Chisum (R-Pampa), as well as for House Regulated Industries counsel Jake Posey. TXU lobbyist Paul Blanton similarly paid a $300 taxidermy tab for Sen. Kim Brimer (R-Fort Worth).

TXU’s highest-paid contract lobbyists are Ron Kirk and Dennis Thomas. Thomas is a former chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission. Kirk, now at Vinson & Elkins, is a former Dallas mayor and Texas secretary of state.

TXU’s Highest Paid Current Lobbyists

Other revolving-door lobbyists on TXU retainers include former lawmakers Eddie Cavazos, Toby Goodman, Paul Sadler and Stan Schlueter. Chris Shields, a one-time legislative director to then-Governor Bill Clements, also lobbies for TXU, as does former Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson.

No matter how much TXU has trashed Texas skies, state officials considering future lobby careers must think twice before challenging one of Austin’s biggest special interests. ■

¹ The Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas are so-called “nonattainment” areas that flunk federal air-quality standards for ozone—a major ingredient in smog. Austin is a “near nonattainment” area that is close to flunking federal ozone standards.
² Senator Takes Aim at TXU,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 8, 2006.