Paul Workman doesn't listen to Texans

Since State Representative Paul Workman (R-Austin) was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 2010, special interest money has played a big role in his campaigns and in his voting record.  Workman has heard his special interest campaign contributors loud and clear, but he won’t listen to us.
Over the last eight years, Workman has raked in millions of dollars from special interest groups and political action committees (PACs) this year alone. Workman has taken in a whopping half a million in campaign dollars, including $4,000 from construction and builders, and $8,250 from insurance groups, and another $12,500 from the energy sectors. Paul Workman has played the political money game better than most.

As Texans know all too well, big money influences elected officials.  It’s exactly what special interest groups and PACs count on when they contribute to political campaigns. When these groups help Paul Workman, they expect him to vote their way in Austin.  On issue after issue, vote after vote, the special interests win, and too often, we – the public – lose.
Paul Workman, is a career politician well practiced in the art of the deal, and has handsomely rewarded his campaign contributors in Austin. Among the many examples are HB 1449, where he sided with the construction industry and he voted to prohibit local governments from imposing fees on new construction. He voted with the payday loan industry against House Bill 877, which would protect consumers from predatory lenders.
Workman, who owns a contracting company, authored HB 2343, which would have made it more difficult for consumers to seek legal remedies against shoddy construction.
We won’t get the tax relief we need as long as the corporations are getting their tax cuts first. We won’t get better schools if the privatization interests still give millions. We won’t get the consumer protection we deserve – as long politicians like Paul Workman vote to protect their industries instead of our families. We need honest government, and real transparency. We need to Reform Austin.