The oil industry vigorously opposed efforts to list the threatened dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species. But three oil company lobbyists were given day-to-day oversight of the effort to save the reptile.
Bidness As Usual
With a conflict disclosure system rife with holes, virtually toothless ethics laws often left to the interpretation of the lawmakers they are supposed to regulate, and a Legislature historically unwilling to make itself more transparent, Texans know exceedingly little about who or what influences the people elected to represent them. And they have no way to differentiate between lawmakers motivated entirely by the interests of their constituents and those in it for their own enrichment.
The Texas Tribune’s Bidness As Usual Project — an extensive reporting and data venture that spanned the 2013 legislative session — looked at these lawmakers and the ethics rules that govern them, addressing issues like conflicts of interest and breaches in public accountability.
In addition to dozens of stories analyzing everything from individual lawmakers’ personal interests to the state’s disclosure forms and ethics laws, the project included the Texas Tribune Ethics Explorer.
This interactive tool was designed to educate citizens on the degree to which legislators’ personal interests conflicted with the public interest when passing bills and setting policy. It included extensive research into all 180 members of the Texas Legislature, plus the governor and lieutenant governor, and provided details on a lawmaker’s employment history and financial records, stock holdings, property listings, campaign finance data and ethics investigations. The Explorer was created with the generous support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
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Bidness As Usual
Campaign Finance Loophole Targeted
Politically active nonprofits, which are playing an increasingly important role in state elections, would no longer be able to hide the identity of their major donors under a bill making its way through the Texas Legislature.
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Bidness As Usual
Bill That Would End “Double Dipping” Gets Hearing
The obscure law that allows Gov. Rick Perry to collect both his pension and salary was the subject of a hearing Monday. A proposed bill would prevent future state officeholders from using the provision.
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Bidness As Usual
Instead of New Ethics Laws, a Study — Again
Lawmakers started the legislative session talking about changes they would like to make in the state’s ethics laws. Now — and it is not the first time — they’re sending some of the most delicate items back for more study.
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Bidness As Usual
Legislators Dip Into Campaign Accounts to Boost Their Staff’s Pay
Lawmakers spend thousands of dollars from their campaign accounts to supplement the salaries of their staffs. It’s a legal and long-standing practice, but some ethics experts say it presents the potential for conflict.
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Bidness As Usual
Interactive: Health Care Lobbying in Texas
Ahead of the 83rd legislative session, the state’s 10 leading health care associations gave more than $4.6 million to Texas candidates. This interactive shows how much — and to whom — health care associations donated in 2011 and 2012.
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Bidness As Usual
Lawmakers in No Rush to Regulate Themselves
Lawmakers, like professional athletes, want to play fair and also want to win. That’s why it’s hard to get them to write their own rules.
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Bidness As Usual
Exotic Trips, Luxury Gifts Are Perks of Office
Many lawmakers are quick to name the sacrifices they make to serve. But life in the Lege is not half bad. The perks associated with the job — from exotic trips to luxury gifts — can dramatically augment their lifestyles.
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Bidness As Usual
For Texas Politicians, Energy Dollars Plentiful
Friendliness toward the drilling industry is typical in Texas, where many lawmakers receive campaign contributions from oil and gas groups or have investments in drilling companies.
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Bidness As Usual
Data App: Ethics Explorer
With the addition of more than a dozen statewide elected officials to our Lawmaker Explorer — including Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs and the state’s railroad commissioners and Supreme Court justices — we’re renaming it the Ethics Explorer.
