AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas "Capitol Inside" political Website/blog (www.capitolinside.com) does an annual ranking of Texaspower lobbyists and groups. Texas Credit Union League's politicaladvocacy team of Buddy Gill, Jeff Huffman, Mance Bowden and CarolynSaegert made the 2004 "Top 15" list for the Private SectorAssociations category, weighing in at #15 - and noticeably, noTexas banking trade associations made the list. `This is veryimpressive company we keep on this list, some powerful groups.Hopefully, we will move up the list in the next round of rankingsfor 2005, given this year's hard work. We will be continuing ourAdvocacy focus, organizing and energizing our formidable grassrootsmachinery, and making politically sound investments in Austin," aLeague memo to credit unions stated. Powerful lobby associationsprotect the interests of entire industries or vast networks ofpublic workers and the government institutions that employ them.This helps them create an action response network through whichthey can get members to email or call elected officials to turn upthe pressure in a traditional, yet effective, grassroots levelstrategy. TCUL has focused on mobilizing its network since thefight for passage of the Credit Union Membership Access Act.Capitol Inside promotes itself as the ultimate guide to power inTexas politics and government. The Texas Lobby Power Rankings arebased on a subjective system of information gathering from a smallgroup of selective advisors that includes members of theLegislature, the press, the consulting business or the lobbyitself. Factors such as the amount of compensation and the numberof clients a lobbyist reports to the Texas Ethics Commission areincorporated into the decision-making process, according to CapitolInside, along with a number of intangible variables such as alobbyist's connections, overall access, reputation, experience -and in even-numbered years - actual track record during thelegislative session of the previous calendar year. "Success as alobbyist can't be calculated by the amount of money somebody makesor the sheer number of clients they report or the marquee nature oftheir Rolodex," Capitol Inside told its subscribers. "The TexasLobby Power Rankings are not portending to say who is the bestlobbyist in town or the nicest or the busiest. This is all aboutpower - and that's an art - not a science." -

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