ustxtxb_obs_2006_07_28_50_00017-00000_000.pdf

TOTAL: $485,000.00 CLIENT AT&T Texas ‘Chevron USA Public Strategies, Inc. TX Conference of Urban Counties *tBottom Line Utility Solutions, Inc. *’City of Sunset Valley TX Game Warden Association tVanguard Electronics, LLC Max. Value of Contract $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $25,000 $25,000 $25,000 $10,000 TOTAL: $585,000.00 *Chevron USA tGEO Care, Inc. *tBottom Line Utility Solutions, Inc. CentraCore Properties Trust Solutions Group *TX Game Warden Association ‘Maple Group, LLC *Vanguard Electronics, LLC $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $50,000 $50,000 $25,000 $25,000 $10,000 $25,000 Max. Value of Contract CLIENT RAY ALLEN’S CURRENT LOBBY CLIENTS *Client shared with Jeff Heckler; tClient shared with Scott Gilmore. SCOTT GILMORE’S CURRENT LOBBY CLIENTS *Client shared with Ray Allen; tClient shared with Jeff Heckler. Citing concerns that this story might be an Allen “hatchet job,” Heckler and Gilmore expressed reluctance to speak on the record about their clients or about Allen, who did not respond to two requests for comment. Heckler did say that he got to know Allen through his work with Family Forward, a nonprofit that promotes family-education programs. Heckler says Allen used to invite him to speak to the lawmaker’s Conservative Forum on how prison education lowers recidivism rates. Once again, Allen impressed a liberal with his pragmatism. Pragmatism in policy and pragmatism in ethics are different things, however. The ethical clouds that have trailed Allen have little to do with whether he was right on a given policy. If Texans are going to run around with concealed weapons, for example, handgun-safety training is a laudable prerequisite. Yet Allen sold government short in 1995 by working on that legislation with one hand and opening his firearms academy with the other. Similarly, Allen and Gilmore sold government short when they left the House through its revolving door and quickly signed correctionsindustry clients. This is true even when those clients advocate sound policies. Consider California-based Bottom Line Utility Solutions, which advises clients on how to lower utility bills. Last year Bottom Line hired Heckler and Gilmore as it promoted legislation to require Texas prisons to install Approved by Allen and the six other members of the Corrections Committee, the bill passed the House too late in the session for Senate action. This year Bottom Line hired a third Texas lobbyist: Ray Allen. Such revolving-door abuses undermine public faith in elected officials and governmenta cost that is offset for Allen and Gilmore by the up to $100,000 that they will receive from Bottom Line this year. While Allen’s old legislative colleagues could crack down on revolving-door abuses, too many of them already are looking ahead to lucrative future lobbying careers of their own. Few people oppose conserving water at prisons, least of all conservationist Tom “Smitty” Smith of Texas Public Citizen. But Smith says Allen and Gilmore fouled these waters by serving the Corrections Committee one day and corrections-industry clients the next. “We support a two-year cooling-off period before lawmakers can enter the lobby,” Smitty says. “Lawmakers who grease a corporation’s bottom line today should not have their own bottoms greased by that same corporation tomorrow.” Andrew Wheat is research director of Texans for Public Justice. JULY 28, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17