Te x a s

Influencers

About the author

W. Gardner Selby is editor o the Austin American-Statesman’sPolitiFact Texas, the rst state-level version o the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact truth-testing project, created by theSt. Petersburg Times. He’s been around Texas politics sinceboyhood and has written about state government and politicssince the early 1980s.

Campaigns & Elections

August 2010

Rick Perry

Never-beaten, governor forlife?

Mike Toomey

Lobbyist, presumed frequentadviser to pal Perry

Dan Patrick

Radio stations’ owner, talkshow host and state senatorwho exacts sway whilespeaking up on what’s askew

James Hufnes

Banker, quiet adviser to Perryand other top ofceholders

Bill Hammond

President, Texas Associationof Business, former TexasHouse member

Susan Combs

State comptroller, formerstate representative; seeksthird term in wake ofnudging Formula 1 racing tocontemplate Texas

Joe Straus

Surprise House speaker,so relaxed some forget heovertook predecessor in2009, partly thanks to HouseDemocrats

David Dewhurst

Lieutenant governor, capableof self-funding 2010 re-election bid, maybe races tocome

Deirdre Delisi

Chair, Texas TransportationCommission, former Perrychief of staff and a campaignmanager, bolstered bypolitical consultant-husband,Ted Delisi (they’re rearingtwins)

Dave Carney

Honorary Texan; NewHampshire-rooted consultantto Gov. Rick Perry, onceworked for White House(ahem)

Matt Angle

Washington, director, TexasDemocratic Trust politicalcommittee, master strategistfor Dems yearning forstatewide resurgence

Lisa Blue

Dallas lawyer-philanthropist,widow to John Edwards’condante Fred Baron,pivotal funder of Dem groupsincluding trust

Tommy Townsend

Executive director, Texas TrialLawyers Association

John Eddie Williams

Houston lawyer, mega-donor, among state-retainedattorneys in tobacco case of1990’s

Bill White

Former Houston mayor,gubernatorial nominee

Karl-Thomas Musselman

Publisher, Burnt OrangeReport, made it a must-seeblog

Leland Beatty

Austin consultant, strategist,maybe visionary

Dan McClung

Houston consultant,remembers when (andwhy) Texas Democrats wonstatewide races

Ron Kirk

U.S. trade representative,Obama adviser in 2008Texas primary, former Dallasmayor, lost ’02 Senate raceto John Cornyn; little seen,but many, connections

Becky Moeller

President, Texas AFL-CIO,poked Perry for living intaxpayer-funded suburbandigs by offering trailer nearthe Capitol; what else doesshe have in store?

Te x a s

Influencers

The Top 10

Republicans

The Top 10

Democrats

he breakdown that ollows o the 50 most infu-ential Republican and Democratic gures in Texaspolitics and government is imperect, limited by theunreality that seeps in whenever anyone purports to take inTexas in one slurpy gulp.Can’t. Be. Done.Still, it was a pleasure to try.This approach is my own, though it draws partly on pri-vate suggestions rom members o the state’s power-politicalintelligencia, their own lists understandably marked withcross-hatches and disagreements.In the end, I resisted the inclusion o too many ocehold-ers as well as many lively partisans who ably carry out plansand ideas rather than hatch them. I also tabled my initial in-clination to ocus on 20 super-signicant GOP players andaround 10 Democratic counterparts—a take arguably justi-ed by the uneven, pro-Republican results o jockeying atthe Texas Capitol in recent years, but one ailing to accountor hot speculation within both parties that changes in pow-er and politics are on the way. Such changes will play out, inmy view, when a cause or candidate (rom either party) stirsLatino residents toward greater public involvement. Boiledout, this list refects the shit in Texas rom Democratic toRepublican dominance cemented in statewide electionsnearly 20 years ago, and expected shits beyond the immedi-ate horizon. Oversights are all mine.