Former state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, may have retired as a state lawmaker, but he won’t be sitting on the sidelines when the Legislature starts up next year.

Averitt, who spent more than a decade and a half in the Legislature, said in addition to his work as a tax consultant, he plans on registering as a lobbyist, a fact first reported by the Texas Tribune.

“I look forward to working on some of the causes that are of interest to me,” he told the Tribune-Herald last week, specifically pointing to his work as a legislator to secure a permanent source of money to cover long-term water planning.

One political analyst said Kip Averitt would be very desirable to lobbying clients based on his legislative experience.
Harry Cabluck/Associated Press, file

Averitt wrote legislation funding the water plan in 2009, but the bill was a casualty of a partisan stalemate in the Legislature and never got a final vote.

Though Averitt plans to join the ranks of Texas’ lobbyists, he added a caveat: “I might be just doing it on a volunteer basis.”

He said he will keep his day job at Ryan, a Dallas-based tax services firm.

Averitt served in the House from 1993 to 2002 and in the Senate from 2002 until March. He resigned citing health problems related to high blood pressure and diabetes.

In the last week of the special election to fill his seat he said his health had improved enough for him to consider public service again as he flirted with the idea of leaving his name on the general election ballot.

The Texas Tribune also wrote the former senator had moved to Austin. Averitt said that was false.

Andrew Wheat, research director at Texans for Public Justice, a group that follows money in politics, said Averitt will be very desirable to lobbying clients based on his legislative experience.

The former senator has personal relationships with former colleagues in positions of power, Wheat said, and he can also dole out money to legislators from a big campaign war chest.

Averitt reported in July having nearly $1.2 million in unspent campaign cash. State law prohibits him from spending that money on himself, but there’s no restriction on giving it to sitting lawmakers.

“There’s so much money available to (former legislators) that the temptation to take a job is pretty overwhelming,” Wheat said. “And that’s why lawmakers often flip the revolving door into the lobby.”

But, he added, “I don’t think we have a big problem with voluntary work.”

Some states have cooling-off periods that prevent legislators from immediately going into lobbying, though not Texas.

A lot of lobbyists

According to a 2005 study by the Center for Public Integrity, Texas had 70 lawmakers-turned-lobbyists at the time, more than any other state.

Averitt’s immediate predecessor, David Sibley, became a lobbyist after leaving the Senate in 2002.

Sibley, a Waco Republican, ran in this year’s special election to replace Averitt but was defeated by Granbury Republican Brian Birdwell.

Sibley said Monday he’s been approached by several potential lobbying clients but hasn’t made up his mind about taking up the profession again.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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