“Sadly, it’s not unusually high,” said Craig Holman, an ethics expert at federal government watchdog group Public Citizen, of Texas’ revolving door rate.
Of the 15 members of the Texas congressional delegation who’ve left office since 2018, the Observer found that at least half have taken positions at lobbying and law firms, consulting firms, industry trade groups, and corporations that aim to influence federal policy in Washington or state policy in Austin. With a record number of Texas incumbents leaving Congress in recent years-either by choice or by the ballot box-the revolving door is spinning at a ferocious pace.
But Vela is just the latest member of Congress from Texas to make that well-trodden trek. His future employer’s office is just a couple of miles from the Capitol on K Street, the notorious lobbying corridor. “The timing now, with just nine months left in the term-I’m just ready to go,” Vela told Forbes. It wasn’t until a Forbes reporter unearthed Vela’s recusal that the congressman said he would resign in the next few weeks and go work for Akin Gump. Of its 66 registered lobbyists, 41 percent worked in the federal government-many as congressional staffers, including a former top aide to Vela who was hired last year. In January, he gave notice to the House Ethics Committee that-citing “negotiation or agreement regarding future employment”-he would recuse himself from any matter related to Akin Gump, which, as of last year, had more than 250 clients with lobbying contracts worth over $50 million, according to OpenSecrets. Vela, an outspoken moderate who was appointed vice chair of the Democratic National Committee by President Joe Biden, had apparently lined up the gig months ago. But last week, Vela made waves by saying he’ll resign his seat early to take a job with Akin Gump-one of the most well-connected lobbying and law firms in Washington, D.C. Brownsville Congressman Filemon Vela was already on his way out of office, having announced last year that he would not run again after five terms.
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