Tribe: Conservative Republican Empower Texans (ET) is the standard bearer of conservative PACs in the state of Texas. While they do not directly lobby for specific pieces of legislation, ET does push for more conservative representation in Austin. They often claim that rather than looking to secure a seat at the table of power, they …

Tribe: Conservative Republican Texas Right to Life (TRTL) is the largest, and oldest pro-life advocacy group in the state of Texas. Their political arm lobbies legislators during the legislative session to enact conservative reforms on life issues, while their PAC works during campaign season to elect conservatives and defeat Republicans they deem unwilling to stand …

The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) regularly requires officeholders, candidates, and PACs to report the money they’ve raised and spent during a specific time period. The first reporting period for 2017 started on January 1, 2017, and ends today, June 30, 2017. These reports are required, ostensibly, to ensure this information is available to citizens. However, …

Conventional wisdom in the Texas Capitol is that politicians, particularly Republicans, must decide if they are with voters or the business community. Allegedly one cannot advocate on behalf of both. A more honest explanation of the battle within the Republican party comes down to whether politicians want to side with voters and business owners who …

Once every two years when the Texas Legislature is in session for 140 days, all legislators in the Capitol, along with statewide elected officials, are subject to a moratorium on accepting political contributions. This policy was enacted to prevent the conflict of interest that would inevitably arise should lobbyists and other special interest groups be …