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It was a secret recording that ultimately led to Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen announcing that he would not seek reelection. But this wasn’t the first time a recording caused a stir at the Texas Legislature. In 2015, The American Phoenix Foundation spooked lawmakers with undercover video recordings. In 1995, documentary filmmakers caught some flak after letting a charismatic state senator talk with colleagues on the Senate floor while wearing a hidden microphone.

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Todd Wiseman was the senior editor for video and multimedia at The Texas Tribune, where he worked from 2010 to 2023. Todd previously worked at the Austin School of Film and Synthetic Pictures and interned...