Texas Lobby Group Tops in Capitol Inside’s Lobbyist Rankings for 2013
The Texas Lobby Group has again topped Capitol Inside’s Top Hired Gun Lobbyist rankings. Mike Toomey and Bill Messer are ranked the No. 2 and No. 3 Hired Gun Lobbyists in the State and Lara Keel is the highest ranked female lobbyist in Texas coming in at No. 14 overall.
Mike Toomey and Bill Messer, who helped found the group, retain their spots among the rankings’ top four lobbyists. Bill Messer has been rated in the top four every year of the ranking’s existence. Mike Toomey has been rated the number one lobbyist three times and has been in the top four every year he has been on the list. In 2003, he was rated the top lobbyist turned public servant when he moved to the Governor’s office making him the only person in Texas history to serve as Chief of Staff to two Texas Governors.
According to Capitol Inside, Mike and Bill:
[H]ave seemed as deeply embedded at the top of the power list as the faces of the presidents that are carved into the cliffs of Mount Rushmore . . . . They earned the lofty rankings through several decades of experience while amassing a cumulative body of winning results, reputation and relationship building and countless connections and contacts . . . . [T]hey’ve been impossible to leapfrog and dislodge as a result of individual work ethics that time hasn’t diminished, the strength of the teams they’ve built around them and their ability to anticipate and to adapt to a business that’s evolved with the state’s ever-changing political persona and become way more competitive and cutthroat in some ways during the past decade.
Joining them is Lara Keel, the top rated female lobbyist for the second straight time. Lara rounds out the trio as the No. 14 rated lobbyist in the state. Lara has steadily risen up the rankings since leaving the Texas Association of Business to join the Texas Lobby Group in 2003.
Mike Toomey, Bill Messer, and Lara Keel are founding members of the Texas Capitol Group, the Top Rated Lobby Team in the state since its inception in 2006. The Texas Capitol Group has assembled an unrivaled team in public and legislative affairs, media, and politics.
Capitol Inside is a closely followed online publication tracking influence and power in Texas politics. Capitol Inside began compiling the list in 2003 based on the opinions of legislators, lobbyists, and staffers that have demonstrated maximum expertise on Capitol matters, proven credibility, and a professional commitment to objectivity and veracity.