These interactive bubble charts visualize the lobbying efforts of local government entities in Texas through 2005-2010. The larger colored bubbles represent cities or counties that spent the most on lobbying.
Matt Stiles
Matt Stiles covered government and politics for the Tribune, with a focus on data journalism, from 2009 to 2011. He oversaw and developed the Tribune’s library of web applications and interactive graphics. Previously, he was a government reporter at the Houston Chronicle. While there, he won the newspaper’s Jesse Award for service journalism and beat reporting and was its reporter of the year in 2007. Before joining the Chronicle, Stiles worked as a reporter for nearly four years at The Dallas Morning News.
Posted inState Government
Search: Pre-Filed Bills
Following a biennial custom, Texas lawmakers filed hundreds of bills this week ahead of the 82nd legislative session. Use this database to search the bill captions, which contain a lay description of the legislation. Filter the results by a bill’s primary author and subject.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: 2010 Gubernatorial Election Results Maps
We’ve published static maps visualizing the performance of the candidates in last week’s elections. Now they’re interactive, allowing you to view the candidates’ totals and turnout percentages by county.
Posted inState Government
On the Records: Mapping the Governor’s Race
View county-by-county thematic maps visualizing the partisan breakdown and turnout in the 2010 governor’s race.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: 2010 General Election: Cost Per Vote
Our interactive chart contains per-voter spending totals for major-party candidates with contested races in the 2010 general election. Sort the data by selecting field headers, or or filter the results by political party, office or election outcome.
Posted inState Government
What Your Vote Cost
Carol Kent, a freshman Democrat who unsuccessfully defended her north Dallas seat in the Texas House, spent $64.06 per vote — the most of any of the 194 candidates running for state offices in this year’s general election, according to an analysis of campaign-finance data by The Texas Tribune.
Posted inState Government
On the Records: A “Fed Up” Word Cloud
Gov. Rick Perry’s new book, Fed Up!, has 56,000 words, but “federal,” “government,” “people,” “Washington” and “states” are the most commonly used.
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State Government
On the Records: Mapping GOP Gains
Texas is — at least geographically — more red after Tuesday’s GOP wave.
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State Government
People You Should Know
When the Legislature convenes in January, more than three-dozen new members will take their seats in the Texas House — almost all of them Republicans, and many as surprised to be there as you’ll be to see them. Here’s a freshman facebook to help you keep them straight.
Posted inState Government
Red November
Rick Perry won his third full term as governor of Texas on Tuesday, defeating former Houston Mayor Bill White by a convincing double-digit margin and positioning himself for a role on the national stage. And he led a Republican army that swept all statewide offices for the fourth election in a row, took out three Democratic U.S. congressmen and was on its way to a nearly two-thirds majority in the Texas House — a mark the GOP hasn’t seen since the days following the Civil War.
