Last Friday morning at the Capitol, state Rep. Glen Maxey, D-Austin, promised to become the “constituent from hell” when he embarks on his new life as an ex-legislator. Opting out of a re-election bid in the wake of a redistricting battle that left Democrats on the losing end, Maxey will leave the District 51 post he first won in a 1991 special election to fill Lena Guerrero‘s vacant seat.
Maxey, who had considered leaving office regardless of how the new boundary lines played out, will pursue a full-time consulting career with Good Company Associates, a lobbying firm with concentrations in sustainable energy and environmental issues. He will oversee a new division, working on some of the key issues he tackled in the Legislature — health and human services, consumer issues — and other grassroots-oriented projects.
During his resignation address, the retiree-to-be choked back tears as he assured his friends and staffers he would remain a familiar face at the Capitol, raising hell when necessary. “Every legislator has that constituent where they cringe when they see them coming or find them on the other end of the phone line. Well, my new representative is Elliott Naishtat, and he’ll be representing the most liberal district in Texas,” Maxey said. “He can expect me to be calling often about why he hasn’t repealed the death penalty, passed a gay-rights law and an income tax.”
As an openly gay representative, Maxey’s biggest challenge when he took office was to change others’ perceptions of him as a single-issue lawmaker. Maxey recalled former Gov. Ann Richards‘ words of warning when he told her he wanted to run for Guerrero’s seat: “They’ll never let you do anything but fight losing battles on gay and AIDS issues.” Another longtime friend, Austin writer Tom Doyal, imparted similar advice, Maxey said. But Doyal, who attended Maxey’s press conference last week, says his friend overcame the odds and is today more widely recognized as a champion of children and the elderly than he is for gay issues. (See “A Profile in Courage” in last week’s Chronicle for more on Maxey’s political career.)
Unlike many of his colleagues, Maxey never had a lucrative business or legal practice to rely upon for income. As a lawmaker, he made $7,200 per year and earned what he could as a political consultant during campaign seasons. Now, Maxey says, he’s ready to go the way of other legislators and join the lobbying pack that hangs just outside the doors of the House and Senate chambers. “I know the players, the issues, the process, the rules, and where the skeletons are buried,” he said. “So it makes sense that I should put that experience to work for the people I care about.”
This article appears in December 14 • 2001.
