8/24/2015 Texas Lobby Power Rankings 2013 HIRED GUNS Neal T. "Buddy" Jones Rising Lobby Stars Texas Lobby Teams HillCo Partners, Former State 1 Ex­Legislator Lobbyists Law Firm Lobby Practices Representative, Former Executive Consultants Who Lobby Private Sector Associations Assistant to Speaker Gib Lewis Ex­State Agency Heads Public Sector Associations Mike Toomey Lobbyists for Causes Corporate In­House Lobby Texas Capitol Group, Former State 2 League of Their Own Non­Profit Organizations Representative, Ex­Chief of Staff to Govs. Rick Perry and Bill Clements Bill Messer Texas Capitol Group, Former State 3 January 23, 2013 Representative, Speaker Tom Craddick Transition Team Dedicated to Reggie Bashur and Mike McKinney Rusty Kelley 4 Blackridge, Former Executive Assistant Tenth Anniversary Power Chart Reflects Transformation to Speaker Billy Clayton of Statehouse to Playing Field Where Young Lions Roam Robert Miller Locke Lord Public Law Group Chair, Professional Advocacy Association of Texas 5 Former Houston METRO Chairman, By Mike Hailey Former State Senate Aide Capitol Inside Editor John Pitts Texas Star Alliance, Former General On January 23, 2003 ­ exactly 10 years ago from today ­ Capitol Inside came to life on the Internet with a 6 Counsel to Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, Twin centerpiece feature story called the Texas Lobby Power Rankings. Brother to House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts The 78th Texas Legislature had convened in regular session exactly 10 days earlier with the GOP in control of both chambers for the first time since Reconstruction in the late 1860s when almost all of the Demetrius McDaniel Republicans here were African­Americans. The Republican majority in the Capitol's west wing capped off a Greenberg Traurig, Former Special 7 partisan revolution that had been in crescendo since the GOP took control of the Senate in 1997 and won Assistant to Agriculture Commissioner every statewide office a year after that. Jim Hightower Robert Johnson So it was pretty clear that the 28 lobbyists who were featured on the brand new web site's inaugural power Johnson & Johnson Law Firm, Son of list faced an imposing challenge in the way they would go about their business at a statehouse where 8 legendary parliamentarian Bob Democrats had been running the show throughout their careers. But no one at that point could have Johnson and Speaker Joe Straus' possibly predicted or envisioned that the lobbying industry at the state level in Texas was entering the Chief Political Advisor's brother infant stages of a major transformation that's never been more evident and obvious than it is now. Ron Lewis 9 Ron Lewis & Associates, Former State The Texas Lobby Power Rankings for 2013 that we're unveiling on the 10th anniversary of a remarkable Representative run is a significantly bigger project than it was just two years ago when more than 450 lobbyists were listed in a dozen categories ­ more than 16 times the number that the chart contained on the day Capitol Inside Clint Hackney was born. While the power rankings have mushroomed beyond anyone's wildest original expectations in 10 Clint Hackney & Company, Former sheer size and the magnitude of the import they carry on Austin's version of K Street, the number of State Representative registered lobbyists at the Texas Ethics Commission has remained fairly constant while hovering between Luis Saenz 1,703 eight years ago and 1,837 by the end of 2011. McGuireWoods Senior Vice President 11 and Director, Former Campaign But while the size of the Capitol lobby hasn't changed all that much, its personality, complexion and Manager for Governor Rick Perry, Ex­ operational dynamics have undergone a massive makeover that directly reflects the political conversion of Assistant Secretary of State Texas to a state that's more red than ever with a sufficient number of Democrats to keep their party Walter Fisher relevant and the boat rocking perpetually. The presence of the largest freshmen class of legislators in four Texas Capitol Group, Former decades ­ with three out of every four new members representing the GOP ­ will be putting the old guard's 12 Parliamentarian in Senate, Ex­ adaptability and survival instincts to their biggest tests yet while giving the younger and inexperienced lions Legislative Director for Texas Municipal who've proliferated rapidly in recent years a golden opportunity to make the kind of immediate inroads that League used to take many years to establish. Curt Seidlits The trending that began 10 years ago has the potential in 2013 to hit a peak that spawns the next Focused Advocacy, Former State generation of special interest advocates. And the current set of circumstances inside the Austin beltway will 13 Representative, Ex­TXU and be putting a higher premium than ever on teamwork, a relatively new and rapidly growing dependence on Association of Electric Companies of technological advancements like social media and a reintroduction process for the long­established Texas Top Executive lobbyists whose names don't ring near as many bells at the statehouse as they had until now. As the Lara Keel regular session unfolds over the course of the next four months, the lobbyists who'd been at the top of their Texas Capitol Group, Former State 14 game for years are being forced to start over in some ways if they hope to remain relevant and successful Senate Aide, Married to State Auditor on a playing field that's more level, more competitive and far more crowded than it ever used to be. John Keel Reputation is still a critical variable in the lobby power hierarchy at the giant building that towers on the hill Yuniedth Midence Steen above the point in downtown where Congress Avenue and 11th Street meet. But cruise­control is no longer 15 Locke Lord, Former Chief of Staff to an option for the heaviest hitters who will have to work as hard as they ever have if not more to retain the State Senator John Whitmire level of clout they'd amassed over longer periods and could lose in a few months if they're not up to the new challenge. Galt Graydon 16 Graydon Group, Former Texas Senate Now it's true that many of the names are the same in the higher reaches of the list of the top 100 contract Aide lobbyists who each represent multiple clients across the special interest board. Three of the four top hired Steve Bresnen guns ­ Neal T. "Buddy" Jones, Bill Messer and Rusty Kelley ­ were ranked among the top four on the 17 Former General Counsel to Lt. Gov. original list 3,652 days ago and have been fixtures at the pinnacle of lobby power in Texas on every list Bob Bullock since. The second highest­ranked contract lobbyist this time around ­ Mike Toomey ­ has been in the top Stan Schlueter four on every power list since 2005 and would've been from the start if he hadn't taken a few years off from his mid­life profession to be Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff. 18 Schlueter Group, Former State http://capitolinside.com/members/lobby2013-main2.htm 1/6 8/24/2015 Texas Lobby Power Rankings 2013 Representative Those four lobbyists have seemed as deeply embedded at the top of the power list as the faces of the Chris Shields presidents that are carved into the cliffs of Mount Rushmore. But none of the lobbyists in the highest Texas Strategy Group, Former Aide to reaches of the hired gun list bought their way to the pinnacle or inherited their rightful place there. They 19 Governor Bill Clements and Secretary earned the lofty rankings through several decades of experience while amassing a cumulative body of of State Jack Rains winning results, reputation and relationship building and countless connections and contacts. But the most impressive thing about the Capitol lobby's four kings is how they've been impossible to leapfrog and Jay Howard dislodge as a result of individual work ethics that time hasn't diminished, the strength of the teams they've 20 HillCo Partners, Son of Former State built around them and their ability to anticipate and to adapt to a business that's evolved with the state's Senator ever­changing political persona and become way more competitive and cutthroat in some ways during the James Mathis past decade. 21 Former John Sharp Campaign Manager The same can be said about a pair of lobby rivals ­ Robert Johnson and Demetrius McDaniel ­ who were Randy Erben ranked among the top 10 in 2003 and still are today. An African­American attorney, McDaniel has been a Former Office of State­Federal trailblazer in a business that's been dominated by white males and not nearly as diverse as the Legislature 22 Relations Director, Former Assistant or the state as a whole despite some belated trending in a more reflective direction. Johnson, the son of a Secretary of State former House and Senate parliamentarian who has a state building named after him, was a top 10 hired gun before his brother took a leave of absence from the firm four years ago en route to becoming the most Carl Richie powerful behind­the­scenes player in Texas politics today. Former Deputy Chief of Staff to 23 Governor Ann Richards, Former Texas But the lead on the real story on the Texas Capitol lobby in 2013 actually is buried in the mid­and­lower Ethics Commission Interim Director ranges of the hired gun directory and even more so in the sidebar lists like those that rank recently retired Marc Rodriguez legislators who've hung out lobbyist shingles, former agency heads who are lobbying now and the ever­ Former City of San Antonio increasing number of teams that are sprouting up constantly in a corresponding decrease in members of 24 Intergovernmental Relations Manager, the profession who still go lone wolf.