Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson announced early this afternon that he was stepping down from his position effective July 6. At the time, Wilson, who has only served as Secretary of State for a year, said he was leaving to pursue "other opportunities."
It sure did not take long to identify those "other opportunities."
Five hours after his initial announcement, the Star-Telegram's PoliTex blog reported that Wilson will become a senior vice-preisdent for Luminant, "the wholesale subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings -- that is, the company that used to be TXU Corp."
Wilson, of course, isn't the first top government official to go directly from big government to big business. In March 2007, Bruce Gibson, the long-time chief of staff for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, went directly from that office to become a legislative consultant for TXU.
The move came just as TXU was fighting consumer groups over legislation that potentially could have hampered the multibillion-dollar deal that led to the creation of Energy Future Holdings ...
David Campbell, chief executive officer of Luminant, said Wilson will make a great addition for the company. "He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our leadership team and complements our current efforts in public affairs," Campbell said in a prepared statement.
But Andrew Wheat, an analyst with the Texans for Public Justice watchdog group, said the state needs "revolving door" legislation to prevent officials like Wilson and Gibson from going directly from high-profile government posts to positions with businesses seeking favor with the state.
"It's too bad -- this state has a revolving door that is absolutely out of control," said Wheat. "It would be good to have a significant cooling-off period, if not an out-and-out prohibition."
A spokeswoman for Energy Future Holdings said officials there have not yet decided whether Wilson will work as a lobbyist for the company.
This is getting out of control. Let's hope a new Democratic majority in the Texas House can put an end to these practices for good.
One of Perry's top cronies, a Republican political operative named Phil Wilson, was working on the Governor's official staff while pocketing a little extra money on the side from a group called TexasOne. In addition to peddling Rick Perry's political agenda, Wilson was paid by TexasOne to wine and dine big corporate players at sporting events and fancy steakhouses, all in the name of bringing economic investment to Texas.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the same day that Gov. Rick Perry named Wilson Texas Secretary of State, he received an $80,000 check from TexasOne – the nonprofit economic development organization that he managed as the governor's deputy chief of staff. Yet another example of clear-cut cronyism from the self-righteous Republican Party.
It looks like this fund is functioning as a slush fund to reward staff," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, which tracks the influence of money in state politics. "It's just another pot for the governor to play with.
Now the Democratic Party of Texas is asking a simple question, have you wanted a “job” where you could go to the Super Bowl, fly around in chartered helicopters, stay at the finest resorts, and receive an $80,000 parting gift when you quit? Good news-a job like that just opened up, and if you have the right stuff, you just might land a position as Rick Perry's newest crony.
Texas Democratic Party will deliver your crony job application, signed only with your first name and hometown, to Rick Perry's office. Who knows--you just might end up with the cushiest part-time job in Texas!
It will be good to see if the party will take this application and story on the road per say. Reaching out and doing blog posts across the country and state talking about how corrupt our Republican “leaders” have become in Texas.
Phil Wilson is bad for Texas. Instead of doing what is right, Rick Perry continues to put personal loyalty over good public policy. Republicans continue to do what is best for their pockets and not fulfill the needs of people like you and me.
Have some fun, fill out the application and watch what happens when 100’s or 1,000’s of applications hit the Governor’s desk.
According to the Statesman, Rick Perry will name his Deputy Chief of Staff, Phil Wilson, Secretary of State.
Roger Williams announced his resignation Sunday June 10 and speculation has been swirling as to Williams replacement.
Wilson watches over the $200 million Emerging Technology Fund and the $185 million Texas Enterprise Fund to recruit business to the state. On his watch, the governor's office says, Texas has leveraged $10 billion in capital investment and 45,000 jobs.
Early this year, he was Perry's point man on a failed legislative proposal to sell the state lottery and invest the proceeds in endowments for public schools, health care and cancer research.
Wilson worked previously as state director for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and as director of communications for Charles Matthews, then a member of the Texas Railroad Commission.
Wilson has publicly stated he will not take a stand on the Republican voter suppression strategy of requiring multiple ID's in order to vote.
Wilson believes that it would not be his role as secretary to take a position on identification proposals.
The jury is still out on Wilson and we will have more as the story develops.
