Former MPs are being investigated for possible violation of the lobbying law he co-supported

The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) is investigating a former congressman who chaired an influential committee in the state House of Representatives for alleged violations of a revolving door law in Texas that prohibits congressmen from leaving office to become lobbyists.

The lawmaker under scrutiny is former Republican state Rep. Chris Paddie, who gave up his East Texas seat in March 2022 to become a lobbyist and consultant for private sector interests. His resignation came at the height of his power: As chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, Paddie played a central role in the state’s response to the deadly 2021 blackout. But his Austin-style attempt at a career change was thwarted by a 2019 lobbying law that Paddie himself co-sponsored that bars outgoing lawmakers who have donated campaign funds to other lawmakers from lobbying in Texas for two years after their last donation.

Before leaving office, Paddie made several campaign donations to Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives. In December 2022, Paddie registered as a lobbyist with the state and provided a list of his clients – including Vistra, the state’s largest energy company. As Texas Observer As reported at the time, Paddie claimed he had complied with the revolving door law because he personally reimbursed his campaign for approximately $50,000 he had given to other parliamentarians.

He remained registered as a lobbyist until February 2023, when TEC commissioners voted unanimously for a legal opinion that Paddie violated the law, regardless of his personal compensation. “The legislature was very clear that this was the conduct they were trying to prohibit, and there was no cure because the goodwill for the contribution, the benefit, had already been received,” Randall Erben, the commission’s vice chair, said at the February meeting, according to the Houston Chronicle. Paddie canceled his registration the next day.

Now the TEC is investigating Paddies activities both in this three-month period from 2022 to 2023 And over a period of 33 months to determine whether he had indeed engaged in illegal lobbying.

It’s a significant development for Paddie and the TEC, which is responsible for enforcing the state’s notoriously weak ethics and lobbying laws. Rarely has the agency pursued a politician so aggressively for possible violations.

TEC is investigating any “activities by Paddie to prepare for or conduct lobbying activities that violate the two-year barring period of the Revolving Door Lobbying Act,” the agency said. If Paddie is found to have violated the law, the commission could potentially fine him up to three times the amount he received for his lobbying. In court filings, Paddie said his clients paid him about $130,000 during the three-month period he was registered as a lobbyist.

TEC initially launched its investigation after receiving a formal complaint in January 2023 accusing Paddie of violating the revolving door law. Months later, in September, TEC subpoenaed a large amount of Paddie’s records and communications from the start of his last term in January 2021 to the present.

Specifically, the agency is demanding information about the contact Paddie had with future or potential clients during his tenure, as well as after leaving office with his former colleagues and other government officials, and also about his credentials as a lobbyist. TEC is also demanding that Paddie provide all contracts and agreements he signed, as well as all invoices and payments he received from the clients he named.

The subpoena also specifically requests the release of all documents related to meetings with House Speaker Dade Phelan or his staff, including a former Paddie aide and five other Republican lawmakers.

Paddie argues that the TEC’s subpoena goes beyond the scope of the complaint underlying the investigation and that releasing many of the requested documents would violate state law, which gives parliamentarians the privilege of reading MPs’ records and protects communications between private citizens (including lobbyists) and their MPs.

That disagreement sparked a related legal battle between the TEC, which accuses the former MP of blocking its investigation, and Paddie, who claims the agency exceeded its enforcement powers.

Last November, Paddie asked a Travis County District Judge to quash or limit the TEC’s subpoena. Paddie argues that the subpoena is intended to “harass, harass and violate the personal, constitutional and property rights of himself and several third parties, including his clients.”

TEC responded last month with its own motion to enforce the subpoena.

“After repeated attempts at consultation, Paddie has now flatly refused to produce documents in response to the subpoena that are clearly relevant to the Commission’s investigation,” TEC said in its filing, which was part of the Travis County court case.

The first court hearing on the applications took place on Tuesday, but the judge did not make a decision.

“Mr. Paddie has not obstructed this case,” Ross Fischer, Paddie’s attorney, said at the hearing. “But he is, in my opinion, rightly concerned that this (subpoena) goes beyond the scope of the complaint, with 33 months of coverage.”

Fischer is a well-known ethics and campaign finance attorney in Texas and previously served as chairman of the Texas Ethics Commission. Paddie and Fischer did not respond to requests for comment. The TEC declined to comment.

During the TEC investigation, Paddie provided a limited amount of documentation, including text messages and a list of meetings he had with lawmakers during the roughly three months he was registered as a lobbyist, according to documents filed in district court. Paddie also provided invoices showing he received $130,000 for his services during those three months.

In response to TEC’s motion to the court, Paddie’s attorney stated, “Paddie has filed affidavits indicating that his registration as a lobbyist was unnecessary because he was not required to register.” Under the state’s notoriously lax lobbying laws, individuals are only required to register as lobbyists and disclose their clients if they meet certain minimum requirements – including spending more than 40 hours per quarter lobbying politicians and other public officials.

Paddie says he never crossed that threshold and therefore was not technically a lobbyist and did not violate the law. TEC says the only way to assess that defense is for Paddie to provide all of the records covering the entire period of the agency’s investigation.

“To the extent that the evidence that TEC receives shows that he actually had lobbying contacts, I think it’s going to be tough for Chris Paddie,” said Andrew Cates, an ethics lawyer in Texas. “The other side is that just because you lobby doesn’t technically make you a lobbyist.”

To establish that Paddie violated the law, “TEC would have to honestly prove that he is lying,” Cates said.

On the day he registered as a lobbyist, Dec. 7, Paddie made phone calls to staff of Governor Greg Abbott, according to an affidavit from Paddie. The documents, which the government obtained separately, observer The governor’s office also shows that the meeting was on the calendar of the governor’s chief of staff, Gardner Pate, and other advisers, including Jarred Shaffer, who was previously Paddie’s parliamentary aide. Records show that one of Paddie’s clients was also in attendance.

According to court records and the TEC subpoena, Paddie also met with Speaker Phelan or his staff and several other Republican members of the House of Representatives during his registration. He also met with regulators from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in February 2023.

Paddie said he spent over $1,800 on food and beverages for MPs and their families in January and February 2023.