Farris & Jo Ann Wilks live in Cisco, Texas, a small town between Abilene and Fort Worth. Farris and his brother Dan founded Frac Tech, an oil and gas fracking company which they sold in 2011. The Wilks brothers come from humble beginnings, as the sons of a small town bricklayer. Farris and Jo Ann Wilks …

As owner of the Houston Texans NFL franchise, Robert C. “Bob” McNair is a household name across much of the state. Founder of the cogeneration energy company CoGen Technologies, Mr. McNair regularly ranks among Texas’ wealthiest citizens. Although he sold the company in 1999, he still retains ownership of power plants in West Virginia and New York. In …

As the Legislature gets underway and committees begin considering proposed legislation, taking a look at the financial backings of legislators can often explain why a certain legislator sits on a particular committee, or why certain bills are moving or stalling in committee. Recently, Transparency Texas detailed the lobbying activities of the Texas Medical Association PAC …

Founded in 1949, Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) is an organization whose membership is made up of plaintiff’s attorneys. TTLA PAC is known to support Democrat candidates and PACs, and has traditionally received support from some of the state’s most prominent liberal donors. In 2003, TTLA faced off with Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) in …

Richard Weekley is a co-founder of Weekley Homes and co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), a statewide tort reform organization. Since the 1990s, TLR has won hard-fought legislative victories, including preventing trial lawyers from “shopping” for juries. Supporters of TLR and Mr. Weekley himself have argued these efforts made Texas more business-friendly …