[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Austin’s Oldest Profession: Texas’ Top Lobby Clients & Those Who Service Them 2002 Edition II. Lobby Clients Ideological & Single-Issue

Accounting for 13 percent of Texas’ total lobby spending in 2001, Ideological or Single-Issue interests spent between $12 million and $28 million to take out 801 lobby contracts. Most of the top spenders in this sector were local government entities, led by the Texas Municipal League and the City of Austin, which perennially battles developers’ efforts to get the legislature to preempt Austin’s environmental rules. While local government entities share a number of common interests (represented by the Texas Municipal League) their lobbyists also compete against one another for scarce state funds.

The largest non-governmental entity in the Ideological & Single-Issue sector is the Texas Civil Justice League, which lobbies for laws that make it harder to sue businesses that harm people or communities (see “Civil Justice Saboteur”). The Texas Humane Legislation Network lobbied to pass two key bills in 2001. One is a three-strikes-and-you’re-out law for animal abusers. The other law requires owners of dangerous wild animals to protect the animal and the public. Finally, after spending up to $475,000 on lobbyists and making $500,000 in political contributions, the Tigua Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo Indian tribe lost a February 2002 federal appeal to stop the state from shutting down its Speaking Rock Casino.⁷
 
 

Top Ideological or Single-Issue Clients

	Max. Value	No. of
Lobby Client	of Contracts	Contracts
TX Municipal League	$1,175,000	16
City of Austin	$1,150,000	15
City of Houston	$1,130,000	23
TX Civil Justice League	$885,000	21
Metro. Transit Auth. of Harris Co.	$780,000	15
TX Humane Legislation Network	$725,000	9
Capital Metro. Transp. Auth.	$700,000	8
San Antonio Water System	$600,000	8
City of San Antonio	$575,000	9
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo	$475,000	17

Civil Justice Saboteur

Apart from municipal interests, the largest Ideological and Single-Issue lobby client was the Texas Civil Justice League (TCJL). TCJL and Texans for Lawsuit Reform (which operates one of the state’s largest PACs) helped push through a raft of 1995 legislation that has made it harder to hold businesses legally accountable when they harm consumers, workers or communities. Subsequently, however, their agenda has languished and even has gone defensive. Putting the best possible face on this situation, President Ralph Wayne listed TCJL’s primary accomplishments in the 2001 session as defeating two obscure bills that would have increased the liabilities of those who abuse oil and gas leases.8 The money-fueled arrogance of Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) in particular has become a liability with legislators, who have tired of TLR always coming back to demand more hand outs. This has forced TLR to distance itself from itself. In an unprecedented move in early 2002, TLR’s PAC began to launder its financial muscle through other business PACs, transferring $25,000 to TCJL’s PAC and $19,000 to the PAC of the Texas Association of Business and Chambers of Commerce. This allows TLR to apply its political squeeze under the names of somewhat less divisive organizations.