When one hears about an “influential leader in the Texas Capitol,” they often picture a Texas politician, not the lobbyists influencing said politicians.
One such lobbyist is Robert D. Miller, a man close to the Texas establishment.
Robert Miller is the 10th highest-paid lobbyist in Austin, raking in up to $4,109,999, and a partner at Locke Lord LLP.
Miller focuses on lobbying at all levels of government: local, state, and federal. While attending law school at The University of Texas, Miller served in the 68th Texas Legislature as legislative director to State Sen. Don Henderson.
After graduating from law school in 1985, he started with Locke Lord as an associate. Miller also served as the chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County from 1998 to 2002. Miller’s list of client contracts includes Landry’s Inc., Houston Municipal Employees & Police Officers’ Pension Systems, and numerous notable Houston-area companies and organizations.
Taxpayer-funded clients make up 19 percent of Miller’s lobbying contracts.
Miller is a large beneficiary of taxpayer-funded lobbying with public agencies in the Houston area, with his benefactors being the aforementioned Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, the Houston Police Officers’ Pension System, University of Houston, the Port of Houston authority, and the City of Galveston Employees’ Retirement Plan for Police.
He has also done much of his lobbying for major corporations and entities, including Airbnb, the Houston Rockets, Silver Eagle Distributors, NRG Energy, Castleman Power Development, Gulf States Toyota, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Phillips 66 Company, EOG Resources, Uber, and the Texas Building Owners and Managers Association.
Miller is not just a lobbyist and a lawyer; he is also a political donor, contributing mostly to Locke Lorde’s PAC, although he has also donated to the Republican Party of Texas and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw during the 2018-2020 election cycle.
You can learn more about Miller, his clients, and his contributions at TransparencyUSA.com.
This article is part of a series of profiles on Texas’ highest-paid lobbyists by Texas Scorecard.
